What greater indictment of a system could there be than an epidemic of mental illness? Yet plagues of anxiety, stress, depression, social phobia, eating disorders, self-harm and loneliness now strike people down all over the world. The latest, catastrophic figures for children’s mental health in England reflect a global crisis. There are plenty of secondary Read more
This is my confession: I have a mental illness When I was 17, I was diagnosed with Chronic Depression (yeah, we’re diving straight in) but I believe that if I’d had the guts to see my doctor earlier, it would’ve been diagnosed when I was 13, or maybe even earlier. I suffered from Insomnia throughout Read more
“I had a very challenging year and wasn’t always as happy as I may have seemed.” It was not a typical start to an end-of-year prizegiving speech, but that’s exactly what Timaru’s Roncalli College head boy Josh Batchelor wanted. The popular 18-year-old stood in front of hundreds of people on Thursday night to announce that Read more
So many have been shocked by the news of Robin Williams and what appears to be his self-inflicted death. For years, he was to me a poster-child for depression. Laughter became his shield, as it has for many who suffer from mental anguish, but he still was internally haunted. I know in my own struggles Read more
The Vatican’s newspaper has acknowledged actor Robin Williams, who took his own life and was found dead on August 11. In a brief article, L’Osservatore Romano called the comedian and actor an “unforgettable clown with a heart of gold”. Williams had recently been battling severe depression , according to his publicist. He was known to Read more
The devil is real, Pope Francis has emphasised, and priests should not try to explain the casting out of demons by Jesus by suggesting he was simply healing a person with a mental illness. “It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there Read more
I have just been cured of a major mental illness. The cure was cheap, effective and instant. And the original diagnosis did not involve any ‘road to Damascus’ experience after hours on the couch, years of painful soul searching in therapy, or complex cognitive behavioural therapy. No drugs or surgery either — NHS executives take Read more
Eating Disorders are among some of the most serious and challenging mental illnesses that affect our children and adolescents. Recent research suggeststhat up to 75% of adolescent girls view themselves as overweight or needing to lose weight and around a quarter of our teenagers are experimenting with dangerous dieting behaviour, such as taking laxatives and severely restricting Read more
On Monday my friend Carl died – under the wheels of a train. He would not have meant to disrupt the lives of rush-hour commuters. Nor would he have wanted to cause distress to the train crew. Perhaps from the “other side” he will let me apologise on his behalf. Sorry. Perhaps it’s ironic that, Read more
Green’s drugs spokesman Kevin Hague has alleged in the New Zealand Parliament that the Church of Scientology is using tax-payer money to promote an anti-psychiatry agenda and messages against medication used to treat mental illness through charities disguised as social service organisations. Mr Hague said he had watched members of the church on Auckland’s Queen Read more