Depression and mental illness: all in your head or in all our heads?             

 

 

Last night I read a beautifully touching piece by a friend of mine, about the devastating loss of his sister. When I first read it I thought thank god I’ve never gone through that. I was thankful that I have never lost anyone that close, which is quite remarkable in its self, considering I am in my 40’s.

When I read it a second time I felt quite sad that I had never experienced the kind of happiness and closeness that my friend spoke of. The unspoken connection between him and his sister, the fond memories that linger today, faded but not forgotten, made me think that while it is obviously important to mourn the loss of loved ones it is vital that we also celebrate them.

 In my limited experience, I have known the catastrophic effect that losing someone can have on individuals and families, sometimes shaping the rest of the life of the surviving members. I have witnessed the complete transformation of a happy loving carefree loyal friend, who following the death of her beloved father completely lost her self and became a self-obsessed bitter sad individual, dependant on medication to function on day to day basis.

I have wanted to write about mental health for some time but the subject is so enormous and so sensitive that I simply didn’t know where to start.

On reading the text of the eulogy my friend shared led me to wonder how someone can experience such joy and closeness, then have it taken away, without suffering some kind of damage. Depression and stress are still rather taboo topics in this country, but I wonder is the potential to suffer these diseases in all of us.

I think it has never been, and possibly never can be determined which event is the trigger and which is the symptom?

I, in the past have suffered depression and stress and I have blamed the excesses of alcohol. There was a period in my late teens when I would drink 8 or 9 pints at lunch time, sometimes more, eventually resulting in me suffering a fit, when I got blazing drunk when I had measles.  The alcohol fuelled the fever to the point where, were it not for the assistance of others I could easily have died. Following the seizure I went to hospital where I was told to my dismay, that if I continued to abuse my body in such a way, that I would be dead in three years.

That was the wake-up call I needed to reign in the drinking, but have still suffered bouts of real anxiousness, deep depression and self-destructiveness even when sober. This leads me to question whether the booze and behaviour were the cause or just a symptom. Indeed often I can find no cause or trigger, which tends to exasperate the situation in my frustration.

Although I feel no shame for these bouts in times of clarity, during the darkness I have no desire to share my feelings and rarely discuss it even now. I have learnt to recognise the onset and on the whole have managed to pull back from the abyss, but not everyone is so lucky and I am in no way naïve enough to believe that I am now immune.

 I am fortunate to have only experienced relatively mild forms of the disease and suffered little or no detriment as a consequence. Others have more severe, more dramatic break downs and lose their jobs, their homes and their family. Some lose their own life.

England cricketer Jonathan Trott made the brave decision to fly home from the ashes in Australia, due to a long standing, stress related condition. It was brave because he faced a backlash from ignorant people who either don’t understand the illness or simply don’t believe in it.

Some unfortunate comments were made publicly, but on the whole Trott has receives widespread support. There is a growing wave of support for sportsmen and women who suffer from mental illness, thanks in no short measure to high profile spokesman such as footballer Clarke Carlisle, in TV documentaries. Some politicians have publicly admitted to suffering from the potentially crippling effects of mental health issues but still there is not enough awareness. Who knows how many people in the country suffer from such illnesses? Due to the very nature of it, there is still a reluctance to admit to it so there can be no accurate measure of just how many people suffer in silence.

I have in the past been a little unsympathetic to homeless people, believing that they largely choose to be homeless; that may be the case, but how many of them are actually making a rational decision? Surely no one in their right mind would opt out of society and resort to begging in the street, but not in ones right mind it is easy for situations to quickly escalate before one has no choice. The effect of the illness could theoretically be costing millions of pounds each year to just repair the damage rather than treating the causes.

Hopefully, as more prominent celebrities and high profile sportsmen speak out and more people have the courage to discuss mental health issues on social network sites and other media, eventually there will be a realisation that any of us can be hit by depression and stress and that there does need to be help and that mental health issues are not all in your head.


http://jamestringham.wordpress.com/

http://www.bipolaruk.org.uk/bipolar-uk-news/2013/11/29/finding-serenity/
 

 

On January 1^st 2014, Britain opens its doors to Bulgaria and Romania.  UKIP leader Nigel Farage is doing the rounds, telling BBC news programmes such as Question Time and The Daily Politics that the 30million people living in those two countries will turn up on our shores to join the 100,000plus that already live here.

Tempted by the well paid labour and our free health services, Farage claims it is inevitable that they will flood our country, despite the fact that they are also free to enter any other country in Europe, including Germany, Spain, and France.

The main political parties here have done little to quash the scare mongering, with communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles repeatedly refusing to estimate the actual numbers we expect. 49 year old former Conservative member Farage has relentlessly used his exaggerations about immigration to bolster his argument that the UK should leave the EU.

A recent report from University college London’s migration research unit, found that migrants coming to the UK since 2000 are less likely to claim benefits or social housing than people who already lived here. The study goes on to report that immigrants contributed £25 billion to our economy in the same period. This bucks the popular perception  the right wingers would have us believe that foreigners will come here taking all our houses, claiming our benefits and increasing crime rates.

It is high time politicians and certain quarters of the media stopped muddying the waters and had the grown up, honest debate about immigration that Farage calls for, but debate based on facts, not fantasy.

UKIP and Farage deserve to be congratulated for raising the issue from being whispered about behind closed doors, to the top of the political agenda. It is now possible to discuss immigration without being accused of racism, although there are still no doubt those who will have that agenda.

While it is arguable that immigrants are taking all the houses, what is clear, is that we need more houses. The down side of immigration “what if’s” dominating the headlines is that issues such as housing shortages, the increasing cost of living, and precautionary measures against the threat of terrorism get pushed down the agenda or shaped to fit the agenda.

Terror suspects such as Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed are able to disappear by simply entering a mosque and changing into a Burka. He has been undetected since the 1^st of November. Urgent action needs to be taken on the clearly ineffective measures we currently have in place, yet we spend time debating whether the Burka should be banned. Someone asked on TV last week, as terror suspects escape in taxis, should we also ban taxis?
 

We need honest, transparent and sensible debate on the real issues that matter from our democratically elected leaders not lies, hearsay and mis-leadership from second hand car salesmen.

 

Coral the bookmakers are giving odds this weekend on the next premier league manager to lose his job with Fulham boss Martin Jol at 6/5 and Norwich’s Chris Hughton 6/4.

Football managers are paid huge sums of money (compared to most of us) to tell millionaire footballers how to play the beautiful game, but are the games top coaches paid too much or are they worth their pay.

Jol’s Fulham are currently in 16^th position in the premier league, having won just three of their first ten games. In one of those games his team scores two contenders for goal of the season and yet he will if they lose to Liverpool at the weekend he will be edging even closer the exit door. The 57 was previously sacked by premier league London rivals Tottenham, during a defeat against Getafe CF in 2007. He has claimed he found out about his fate via a text from his nephew before the game had ended.

Current leaders Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger faced calls for the sack in the opening days of the season after an opening day defeat to Aston Villa. Criticised for not bringing in fresh talent, fans seemed to have lost patience after failing to win a trophy in almost a decade. Three months later and £42 million spent on highly rated German, Mesut Ozil, the gunners are 5 points clear having not lost since the Villa game.

Even the self-proclaimed special one, Jose Mourinho and new Manchester United boss David Moyes have been subjects of the sack race rumour mill.

So are managers unfairly judged too harshly or are they lucky to be in the job?

An inspirational manager can transform the fortunes of a club, given time and faith. Current Everton boss Roberto Martinez cut his teeth in management at Swansea. At the time they faced extinction narrowly escaping relegation from the football league. Martinez’s style of play and inspirational man management transformed the club into the premier league outfit they are today. Crewe legend Dario Grady has served the club for over 30 years in various capacities and is credited with discovering some of the best young talent in the game.  One could argue then that some managers, given the time by the clubs directors can justify the money they earn are arguably more important than their millionaire playboy charges. In contrast it is easy to feel for managers such as Terry Connor, who enjoyed 13 games at the helm for Wolves before being replaced or former Charlton boss Ian Dowie, who was in charge for just 12 games in 2006.

Chelsea hero Roberto Di matteo was dismissed by the Stamford Bridge outfit after just 8 months in charge despite winning two trophies including the prestigious Champions League trophy.

So while it may not look good for Messes Jol and Hughton, they should take heart from the premier league’s longest serving and most successful manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sir Alex lost his first game in charge to Oxford United, followed by a dull draw at Hughton’s current club Norwich. In 1989-90 there were calls for him to be sacked by fans and journalists alike. After a run of 7 games without a win it was widely expected that his reign would be ended until Mark Robins scored the winning goal against an in form Nottingham Forest. His team went on to win the FA Cup that season, the first of 5 and 13 league titles in a 25 year spell.

Maybe 25 years from now Sir Chris Hughton will be the most distinguished manager in history, but sadly I fear a home defeat at the hands of West Ham this week end could be the final nail in his Norwich coffin.