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RESEARCHERS AT TWO Irish universities have recommended targeting depression awareness and intervention programmes at teenage boys on foot of results of a study.
The research used vignettes and questionnaires to measure how both sexes view depression or ADHD in their peers between the ages of 10 and 16.
The younger children did not hold very negative perceptions of others their age with these conditions, the study found. However, Dr Eilis Hennessy of UCD’s School of Pyschology said:
It’s possible that the children knew what is socially acceptable to say on the questionnaire, so we also used a reaction time test to see how quickly they associated positive and negative words with mental health problems.
This test also showed that teenage girls did not have negative attitudes towards their peers with depression but that some teen boys did. Dr Hennessy said:
If we were to think about intervention, the group that we need to target are adolescent boys and depression.
It wasn’t just teens though that were a cause for concern. The study, which was co-produced by Dr Caroline Heary at NUI Galway, found that all of those interviewed between the ages 10 to 16 were worried about stigma from adults. “A lot of them spoke about not telling anyone they had a diagnosis,” said Dr Hennessy.
The study was funded by the Health Research Board of Ireland.
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Most adults have a negative view of someone with mental health issues so how do we expect our teens to be different.
Many of the people ranting on here about how terrible this is yet a few months ago when a guy was standing on a bridge threatening to jump (the particular individual a bit of a time waster but thats beside the point..) there were comments on here like ”people who threaten it loads won’t actually do it” and other such ignorant moronic nuggets.
To correct anyone who has this dangerous belief, which may contribute to them taking their depressed friends or siblings less seriously, it’s often the case that people threaten it a lot, and go ”to the edge” as a cry for help, sure. However it’s also the case that many people use these repeated scares to edge away their fear of ‘jumping’ (so to speak) and then eventually the fear goes away, and they do it for real, esp when they see nobody thinks they are serious.
Everyone thinks it’s ”shocking” and ”terrible” until it comes time to make flippant, ignorant and dangerous remarks on the net about suicide. You don’t have to be an expert in every topic in order to have views on it, but I’d urge people who don’t know what they are talking about on mental health to refrain from peddling these dangerous myths as if they do.
I can see it now, the child goes to the parent for support, only to be met with “Sure what do you have to depressed about? Sure don’t we give you everything you want. We’re too soft on you that’s what’s wrong.”
I’ve made it my business to always be available to my family and students to talk about anything at all. Teenage boys find it incredibly difficult to open up or ask embarrasing questions but knowing that they have somebody they can come to certainly makes things easier for them and can stop minor issues snowballing into more serious ones.
I’ve been there (and still am quite frankly) with depression and anxiety but have strong friends to help me through.
I only wish more people would do the same
You seem like a bloody brilliant teacher – wish there were more like you and wish the government would give funding to schools and make it compulsory to implement their guidelines:
http://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2013-Press-Releases/PR-%202013-%201-%202013.html
Young people have been asking for this in successive consultations on curriculum and on youth mental health, and it is shameful we have not done it yet…
Many thanks Miss Filed. For the record I’m not a school teacher but rather teach music voluntarily.
Fair play to you man. I’m ashamed to say that I definitely had a negative view of depression when I was younger, essentially a “man yourself up attitude”, through a lack of education on the subject. It was only when depression began to affect those closest to me that I realised how ignorant I had been. It really is great that you’re putting yourself out there to support your students that are battling depression as the subject of mental health in Ireland is one that is often swept under the carpet and ignored which would explain the amount of ignorance and lack of understanding on it.
This study tells us nothing new about boys and young men’s attitudes towards mental health. 80% of suicides are male and of these most are in the 16 to 35 age group. Telling us about a problem that we already know exists is a waste of time and money. Our young men are a valuable resource and asset to Irish society protect the asset and we protect society.
Agree Alan shocking that this is allowed to continue with such a high young male suicide rate. Raising the issue again and again however I hope is not a waste of time. We know what we have to do to help our young men and women – the answer is for the Government to give the resources and training to schools to implement their guidelines on a whole school approach to promoting positive mental health and preventing suicide – the kind of initiatives that are shown to work in other countries and to decrease mental distress and increase help-seeking behaviour.
So will you all get onto your TDs and tell them you want them to make this a compulsory part of the school curriculum and policies and procedures, and you want them to give funding for training of staff etc???
Hey Miss Filed, since when did it become the job of government to sort out suicide?
Do you want the government to wipe your backside too?
They can’t sort out everyones problems, it is not their job. They are not an Agony Aunt, or counsellor.
People commit suicide, it is upsetting, but that’s life, suicide will always happen it is not something that can be stopped.
It’s the ‘job of government’ to do what the electorate elected them to do, which for *most* people is to facilitate the best possible quality of life for all its citizens. Don’t you think life would be better for everyone if suicide rates were reduced, even by a small fraction? And if that can be achieved through polices for or allocation of funding to education, better understanding of causes and prevention, support services and awareness campaigns, then I think that probably is the job of government.
@dylan. With a ministry for children, health, education and a part ministry for mental health, it would appear to be a key role of government to address this neglected issue, and support the amount of voluntary work being done
Hoping that teenagers get the Psychological as well as nutritional help they need and not mind altering drugs eg “anti-depressants” / Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). A number of my friends and Facebook friends have lost their son because of these drugs. They can increase the risk of suicide in some.
And I have just finished a book called “Why Bipolar?” by Declan Henry. It includes 26 case studies. Most people who develop “Bipolar” / “Manic Depression” symptoms have had traumas in their life. But it was interesting to see that in a lot of these case studies either the person had taken a street drug eg cocaine or had been prescribed an “anti-depressant”. And the brochure in the GP surgeries lie about these drugs. Claiming they “rebalance neurotransmitters” with no scientific evidence to back that up. If you listen to some of the honest Psychiatrists such as Peter Breggin they highlight that these drugs can cause a chemical imbalance in some people.
“Why Bipolar?: The Demystification of Bipolar Affective Disorder” gives lots of approaches towards the end of the book on how to overcome this condition.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Bipolar-Demystification-Affective-Disorder/dp/0957689306
[Never stop or change prescribed drugs without talking to a good doctor, due to the dangers of withdrawal]
I agree Aine – medicating our young people is just not the way. Look, we all know what we need as a society to do – the Government has gone part of the way with its recently-published guidelines for schools on a whole school approach to promoting positive mental health and preventing suicide. It’s obvious without this being made compulsory and resources and training given to schools, no school is going to have the time, energy or money to implement the guidelines, and we know a few information sessions here and there are not going to work.
Add to this the fact that young people have been asking for this in successive consultations and we have to hang out heads in shame. How many more young people have to bear their burden of distress in secret, how many more suicides? Shame on the government and shame on us all. Tell your TDs!
It would be more accurate to say ”medication without therapy” is not always the way to go. Some peoples mental health issues are a simple case of neurochemestry that are fixed with drugs or at least compensated for with them like some cases of bipolar disorder.
I get the concerns some have about the weakening of the DSM criteria and the corrupt influence of drug companies on political power but even leaving all that aside as Jim said some medications are very helpful.
Too many times, with all kinds of public issues, people substitute what their own personal experience has been for what should dominate public policy decisions.
Slippery slope there,Aine..
Please don’t be advising people with ” bi-polar” to come off their medication as the “withdrawals” that you call them could and more than likely lead you into psychosis and from there into an institution for a couple of months and finally back to taking a stronger dose of the medication than before ..
Re: anti depressants work for some people.
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045
According to this meta analysis they perform worse than placebo in all but the most depressed patients, and that the apparent increased effectiveness in the severely depressed was due to a lower response to the placebo and not a better performance for the drug.
Their efficacy is very much in doubt, to quote the background of the study:
“have reported only modest benefits over placebo treatment, and when unpublished trial data are included, the benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical significance.”
Note – this study is based upon SSRIs, which are prescribed for depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, etc. A bi polar patient will be taking mood stabilisers such as lithium, and should not be taking just SSRIs as they list mania, hypomania and psychosis as a side effect – things a bi polar patient is trying to avoid.
Also – I remember from when I was on SSRIs it said in the leaflet that they weren’t suitable for under 18s, indeed – the association with murder suicides is much higher among this age group. They’re supposed to have a black box warning prohibiting their usage in teenagers – has this changed?
I love the way people come onto TheJournal.ie and twist my words around:
A) I never said that Bipolar”/”Manic Depression” doesn’t exist. I am well aware of the existence of this condition and that there has been a boom in diagnosis. Partly because of the overuse of “anti-depressants”. Prof Ivor Browne would say it used to be a rare condition. Medical journalist Robert Whitaker would attribute some of the boom to the use of prescribed psychotropic drugs. And then there is a Yale study ~ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11235925
B) I did not advise anyone to come off medication.
I simply am trying to point out that there is an alternative viewpoint to the brain washing that goes on in the Western world in what is a billion $$$ industry.
Some people obviously don’t want that view challenged. In places like Finland where they employ the Open Dialogue approach and where prescribed psychoactive drugs are not the main form of treatment, they have proven that recovery is possible. They use early intervention and involve the person in decision making. And instead of the person ending up on disability they end up back as productive members of society. Psychosis (temporary loss of touch with reality) is usually a temporary condition. In Ireland they would probably be called “schizophrenic” and given a life sentence with that label.
I for one know that RECOVERY without drugs is possible. I can see through the lies, the fraud and the deception. While some use of minor or major tranquilizers can help a person in distress, these drugs don’t always provide any long term solution or Quality of Life. Not forgetting the long term side effects eg shrinkage of the brain.
So doctors and Psychiatrists can get away with locking up and lying to people in distress. But if anyone questions their approach they are told they are on a “slippery slope”! And what @Tom Daly says is typical of the brainwashing of mainstream Psychiatry. When someone stops drugs there can be relapses, especially if a good alternative plan is not put in place. Doctors who give proper support, help and advice to people coming off drugs are few and far between. Hence the person ends up in the revolving door Psychiatric system sometimes and on drugs for life.
@Jim Redmond So are you dismissing the experience of someone who is a social worker for 20 years and has seen first hand what happens to people who have been led to believe in the biomedical view? (the author of Why Bipolar?)
Scaremongering implies that a person is telling lies. What I want is “informed consent” and the TRUTH about these mind altering drugs. Not lies and misinformation eg claims that a person has a “chemical imbalance” and that SSRIs somehow magically fix this imbalance. A clever but deceptive myth.
I realise we all have a biochemistry and that various lifestyle choices and life events effect that but claims that popping a pill cures life is far fetched to say the least. Yet so many people fall for that without doing their research. I know one such person and they have paid a heavy price i.e. a diagnosis of a more serious mental health condition than they started out with when they first visited their GP.
‘The myth of the chemical cure’ ~ Psychiatrist Dr Joanna Moncrieff ~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8138893.stm
If a person is suffering from Depression or suicidal thoughts, by all means reach out and get help. These thoughts are temporary and do pass. Suicide help line ~ http://www.1life.ie/
[Never stop or change prescribed drugs without talking to your doctor, due to the dangers of withdrawal]
No Aine, but you are dismissing the experience of those who have had successful outcomes with medication, including those who are *informed*. Not everything works for everyone. There are loads of studies that disagree with the ones you mention.
I think the main problem with all of your arguments boils down to “I know one such person and they have paid a heavy price i.e. a diagnosis of a more serious mental health condition than they started out with when they first visited their GP.”
We all know someone who…..
Not to dismiss this one person’s experience but you should not dismiss those of others.
David Healy – Hearts and Minds- Psychotropic Drugs and Violence
“A lecture by Prof David Healy from the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences at Cardiff University on the over 100 drugs that can cause violence. This was presented at the Cardiff University School of Psychology on 30th April 2013″.
Highlights what can happen to some people who have adverse reactions to SSRIs.
@Jim Redmond ~ which field do you work in?
If it was only one person it would not be a tragedy. It is 1000s and it has been going on for a long, long time. Especially in Ireland. Blatant abuse of people, including young people and destruction of lives.
Here is a database kept by Brian in the UK of people who have died or been damaged by “anti-depressants” ~
http://antidepaware.co.uk/
In the US Ann Blake-Tracy also keeps a database.
I have contact with several people who have lost their son because of SSRIs ~ Leonie Fennell, Maria Bradshaw (New Zealand and founder of CASPER), Elaine Billings, Suzanne Beachy etc etc
Also people like Kim Crespi whose husband was on a cocktail of prescribed psychotropic drugs and killed their twin daughters.
You can keep up the myth and the deception. But the reality is that the body bags are mounting and people who have lost loved ones or have had their life destroyed by the Psychiatric system or prescribed psychoactive drugs are connecting to each other, sharing their stories, giving each other support and fighting back.
Wow Aine. Just wow. What field do i work in? Irrelevant. If i tell you I’m a psychiatrist i will be the devil incarnate. What if I’m maybe an accountant with a bipolar partner? I guess that would make my opinions entirely irrelevant?
If you can’t see that your last comment is pure scare mongering you need to rethink things. You mention a few extreme cases out of the millions of people who have had successful interventions with medication. Just think about that in any other context.
I don’t deny that medication is not always the answer and does not always work but it is one option out of many that people should not be made to fear.
You can cite studies at me all you want. I can cite others that refute or disagree with the findings. I read a study the other day which found essentially that CBT is less successful than medication for depression. This doesn’t mean that that is the case. Its the findings of one study.
I really wish you could stop for a minute and see that opinions like yours prevent people from getting help with mental health issues.
Psychiatrist Allen Frances was chair of the taskforce that created DSM-IV (the Psychiatric bible).
Preventing Overdiagnosis ~ Allen Frances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMBeiENDqT4
Peter Gøtzsche ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIIQVll7DYY
[Above videos ~ Chair: Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief BMJ ~ Winding back the harms of too much medicine ~ Dartmouth College - September 10-12, 2013]
“opinions like yours prevent people from getting help with mental health issues”‘
I have never said that people should not get help. I even say “reach out and get help”. Nothing worse than suffering along for years in silence. I recently read Gareth O’Callaghan’s book “A day called Hope” which documents his recovery.
There are so many good ways to manage mental & physical health ~ talk therapy, meditation, Yoga, keeping a journal, supplements, good nutrition, proper breathing, hydration, good sleep hygiene, stress management, being careful with alcohol, not smoking if possible etc etc
If the 3rd biggest cause of deaths in the world is prescription drugs (next to cancer and heart disease) then burying our heads in the sand is not an option.
Some people may be on drugs and feel they benefit from such drugs and have peace of mind, quality of life etc And good for them. But I know there are alternatives. But that requires daily work.
I am a fan of WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) and the work of Mary Ellen Copeland. The 5 Key concepts of Recovery are: Hope, Personal Responsibility, Education, Self-Advocacy and Support. There is even a WRAP app now ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BK_jLMToeM
When it comes to hearing voices we are all led to believe that the person has “Schizophrenia” ~ a very heavy, stigmatizing label. And that the person will be “cured” or at least kept well if they take their medication. But the reality is that these major tranquilizers/neuroleptics only suppress the voices in 33% of cases (WHO statistic). There is an ever growing group of people in the Hearing Voices Network that take a different approach to voice hearing and try to make sense of the voices and learn how to manage them eg Eleanor Longden and Jacqui Dillon.
Not forgetting that hearing voices can be a reaction to / coping mechanism for childhood trauma, including sexual abuse. There was a documentary about Jacqui Dillon recently aired on RTE Radio 1 ~ http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/radio-documentary-sounds-mad-hearing-voices-psychology.html
Instead of dismissing “Why Bipolar?” if you do know someone who has this condition that book is full of useful tips in Part 3 in how to manage this condition.
With all due respect Jim, the meta analysis I posted the link to above surveyed all published data on the major SSRIs up to 2008 (and the formulas haven’t changed since then), and it found that once you included all the data – rather than just the data the manufacturers wanted you to see – the “benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical significance.”, their conclusion states;
“Drug–placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients. The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication.”
For those already taking them, the decision to continue or suspend treatment is one that they should discuss with their doctor before taking any action, because withdrawal is extremely unpleasant and can be dangerous.
For those feeling down it is in their better interests not to be prescribed a drug that literally alters their brain chemistry – on the off chance that it might make them feel better. Because the negative side effects can be dire. As I said – on that I have direct experience, and have watched the same happen to several of my friends.
There are better, less drastic modes of treatment that best practice dictates should be explored before medication is considered.
For people to make informed decisions, about what drugs they want to take, it would help if Big Pharma stopped hiding the negative trials on “anti-depressants”/SSRIs!
Psychiatrist Professor David Healy – Time to abandon evidence based medicine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3YB59EKMKw (6 mins in)
This video is “A talk by Prof David Healy from the Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences at Cardiff University. The talk was presented at the Cardiff University School of Psychology on 26th November 2012″.
At Christmas., remembering those in Ireland in 2013 that have been locked away in Psychiatric institutions throughout the year and force fed a cocktail of drugs. That instead of making them better make them worse and put their lives at risk!
For example the drug Risperdal (Risperidone). 922 registered deaths on the database http://www.rxisk.org
When it comes to Zyprexa (Olanzapine) ~
a) successful lawsuits in the US due to the link to diabetes, rapid weight gain etc
b) 20 people died in the trials for the drug (according to medical journalist Robert Whitaker)
c) Chronic exposure to Olanzapine causes “significant reduction in brain volume that affects both gray and white matter” ~ study funded by Eli Lilly themselves! (2005)
Yet they can make billions from this drug. Zyprexa is a major tranquilizer and works for some. A bit like a tranquilizer dart works. But if used correctly by Psychiatrists as part of a more holistic approach it only required short term and possibly at lower doses than prescribed.
Thank God for neuroplasticity (where the brain can bounce back to some degree and recover) but there are certain conditions caused by the drugs that are not always reversible and cause permanent brain damage in some eg tardive dyskenesia (involuntary, repetitive body movements). Or another condition that is very difficult to live with is Akathisia (an unpleasant sensation of inner restlessness, where the person finds it very difficult to sit still and may pace up and down).
[Never stop of change prescribed drugs without talking to a good doctor, due to the dangers of withdrawal]
There are several doctors/Psychiatrists who are not afraid to tell the truth and will back up what I say. They include Prof Ivor Browne (a veteran in the field), Prof David Healy (Wales), Dr Peter Breggin (New York), Dr Joanna Moncrieff (London), Dr Terry Lynch (Limerick) and several more. As for the rest, that is another story!
Presentations from the GROW conference held on 11th January 2013 (Trinity College)
GROWing towards recovery: a re-enchantment with life – Mike Watts ~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g08yo4Phwic
From the same conference ~ Peter Lehmann ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L89m0SN9tPQ
Fair enough. If depression is indeed caused by a seratonin or even noradrenaline imbalance – where is the objective blood test for depression?
When you are diagnosed with cancer you aren’t diagnosed based off a list of symptoms, or even because the doctor can feel a lump. There are blood tests and biopsies. When you are diagnosed with anything that has a physical cause you are given OBJECTIVE, SCIENTIFIC tests to confirm your diagnosis.
Where are the neurotransmitter screening tests that confirm the diagnosis of depression?
You can test the levels of neurotransmitters easy enough – why not – BEFORE prescribing drugs that alter the body’s way of dealing with these chemicals, do a test to confirm whether or not there is a deficiency?
Maybe because there is no evidence that seratonin is related to depression, and the test results may well show that you don’t need the drugs. So instead – we will rely upon a checklist upon which scoring 5 or more out of 9 scores you a depression diagnosis.. How very scientific..
Funny how people will down vote scientific EVIDENCE in favour of keeping up the marketing buzz of the harmful drugs they call treatment.
Just check out all the murders related to this one class of drugs.
http://www.ssristories.com
Paxil Study 329 (Seroxat here) ~ what can happen, especially when prescribed to children or teenagers ~ Panorama ~ the hiding of negative trials by GSK ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ffzsrDkSQ#t=29
But some people seem to prefer the misinformation of “spin doctors” and ghost writers.
It’s well publicised at this stage that young men are particularly vulnerable when it comes to suicide. This governments approach has been to cut school counsellors hours as well as withdraw resources from those working with young men in pastoral and mental health roles. You can have all the programs and TV adds in the world if you don’t have services available then the support is not there for those who do speak up. Thank god for places like Pieta house. They rely on donations and are doing their best to fill the huge gap in mental health services in this country.
Paints a sorry picture of the male sex with this study. Many men for what ever reason see mental health issues as a weakness. Very sad to hear.
The reason is simple, all you have to do is read this board half the time on these issues to see why it’s seen as a weakness as remarks like ”cop on” ”needs a good slap”, ”just being dramatic” appear frequently
As for medication, if u have a pain you take a painkiller, if u have a chemical imbalance in your brain causing depression, you should take medication.
Except the theory about seratonin imbalances was disproven in 1983. A person with high levels of seratonin can be depressed and a person with low levels can be fine. They developed the theory AFTER they made the drugs, it was how they explained the drugs working.
The thing is that the drugs don’t work any better than placebo, which essentially means they don’t work at all – it’s just the mind telling you that the pill will work. Considering the seriousness of some of the side effects (increased risk of violence, suicide, mania, psychosis etc) it’s quite irresponsible to think that taking a pill is the answer. If you don’t have a “seratonin imbalance”, you will have one after taking SSRIs..
Please don’t take my word for it – read the results of studying all the clinical data available on these drugs.
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045
People need support – not drugs. The side effects can end up making everything a lot worse (as I know from experience).
When we live in a backward country that doesn’t accept anything other then perfection what do we expect. The ah sure he’ll b grand attitude destroying families around the country. No one is born with a negative attitude to something like mental illness, it’s taught to them.
I’m Irish. But live in the U.S.my son is diagnosed with bipolar. He has been hospitalized 10 times and lived in a residential for 2years.my point is I ve lost many friends through their lack of understanding of mental health. My son takes meds .but its along road of trial.and error with meds
With the help of meds and therapy and different agency’s help with are finally able to help him control his angry most of the time..if I didn’t have their help I don’t know where we would be.its work a lot of it but otherwise where would he be and what would his future be , as he is only 13.
Very hard to tell people how they should fell or what’s the correct way to feel. If they have a negative view that’s their own business. It’s the compelled to care fascists in society that annoy most people including myself.
What would the world be like if no one stopped to help someone who fell and injured themselves on the street or in an accident? Most people, I think, would deem it reasonable to intervene to help. Emotional pain can be just as serious, and when it disables someone as much as a physical injury its not about dictating what or how we all ought to feel and think, its about helping the person be mentally healthy. No one usually feels stigmatised about a physical ailment but may about a mental one and yet either can affect every aspect of a persons life. Why would you call people who want to help someone who is depressed a fascist?
The problem Enda is not even so much that young men don’t care, but that the ones that do suffer from depression feel that this is the case and so will tend to keep it a secret and not seek help. Only somebody with a heart of stone would think that was a good thing.
The fact is that our education system is value-laden and inculcating of values anyway whether you like it or not, so evidence-based work in schools with young people – the kind that has been proven to work – that teaches how to look after your own mental health, makes everybody feel better and more likely to seek help is a no brainer. The fact is that in successive government consultations with young people on the curriculum social and emotional learning is what they consistently ask for in school (both boys and girls) – above all other subjects – so really what old ones like us think about that is irrelevant if it is what they want.
Nobody can be ‘compelled to care’ if they do not want to care about the mental distress of others, but it is usually the case that those who are frightened about this stuff have their own issues, and education and awareness-raising in schools is shown to make a difference to that – again, as you say, no compulsion but simply awareness-raising and emotional growth…
Not taking anyone’s word for it. Been there, don’t need to read another theory or study… Wow disproved in 1983. My gp and thousands of others must have missed this 1. Medication and cbt or counselling is a proven combination of treating depression… Fact
That wasn’t a study. That was a review of all the data available on the drugs. It was all over the news in 2008. And would have been a pretty hot topic for discussion in the field of medicine. If you and your doctors missed it I really don’t understand how.
I wonder if we renamed it ‘stress’ would people be as ignorant about depression and anxiety? Because that’s what it is, the mind is stressed for wherever reason and not thinking straight. I unfortunately have experience with it and also experience with the taboos that surround depression. People still referring to ‘loonies’ or ‘happy pills’, people who just haven’t the first clue what it’s like to feel that you want to die.
There is hope, there is always hope and I’m living proof that you can come back from the despair. It’s so hard when you’re in the middle of a depression to see that.
have your say