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We need to keep the bigger issues in mind

Tory Shepherd

by Tory Shepherd

11 Jan 06:00am

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Filed under: Anxiety, Big Pharma, Depression, Disorders, Medication, Mental Health

124 comments

Our mental health priorities are seriously out of whack.

Are you depressed or just sad?

Australia’s mental health system is a shambles. It’s under-funded and plagued by bureaucracy and a lack of political will.

People in desperate need of help are slipping through the cracks, as bed numbers dive and community support fails to reel in the slack.

On the other hand, though, there’s plenty of focus on minor mental health ailments.

Please note the emphasis on minor.

Australia is in danger of walking down the path where every deviation from a far-too-strict-norm is declared an aberration.

The system is set up to name this aberration then provide a quick fix.

Big Pharma obviously have a vested interest in getting their product to as broad an audience as possible.

Marketing gurus and PR companies keep coming up with new names for not-so-new issues.

GPs are overworked. And it must be nigh impossible to stand in the way of a leafy suburbs divorce victim determined to scoff Zoloft with their gin and tonic.

It’s difficult to have a serious debate on the over-prescription of drugs. Part of this is because Scientology has ripped much credibility out of the argument with their rigid opposition to any sort of medication.

It’s also pretty much impossible to work out what’s going on, because it’s only recently that depression and other disorders became widely recognised problems, so there are not historical statistics to compare prescription rates to.

But it is not just the medications that are the problem – it’s the entire idea that anything slightly off the centre of the bell curve makes you wrong, somehow. Not normal.

Everyone wants that pill, that magic pill that makes them happier. Whether that’s a prescription drug or the latest happiness fad.

So shyness becomes a medical problem, as does everyday sadness and a lack of libido.

Most people I know (and I admit maybe I’m hanging around in the wrong circles) blithely talk about their mental quirks. They own their ‘disorders’ in a way that suggests they’re unlikely to let them go.

These days even dogs have mental disorders. My border collie is, apparently, obsessive compulsive. He licks stuff. All the time.

The vet said it is now not uncommon to medicate dogs that show problem behaviour – then sensibly recommended we focus on behavioural therapy, maybe spend more time at home, keep him tuckered out from physical activity.

Because really, it’s not that big a problem.

We are so used to having answers to everything now, with Google at our fingertips 24/7, that we need to categorise everything. We need to fix everything.

So that odd habit of worrying about leaving the stove on, or of being unable to throw out junk, or of getting a bit down from time to time, becomes a specific, nameable problem. And there’s always a drug, a self-help book, or even an app for that.

And what concerns me is what we lose along the way, as we ease more people towards some sort of ‘normal’ standard. It’s as though we’re aiming for a bland, robotic, unattainable ideal – an ideal that doesn’t sound that idyllic at all.

It is good that we are recognising the serious issue of depression more than we ever have before. It is good that organisations like BeyondBlue and Sane are working with people with mental health disorders.

What is not good is the money-making industries’ tendencies to turn non-issues into issues, to create problems where previously there were just individual idosyncracies.

And my dog? Well, we tried giving him more exercise, and putting chilli powder in all the spots he liked to lick. So now we have a fit but seriously chilli-addicted dog.

Who still licks the couch till it’s soggy.

To find out more about mental health, or to talk to someone, visit BeyondBlue, Sane, or Lifeline Australia.

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124 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Bilby says:

      06:23am | 11/01/11

      Can someone explain the obsession with being normal? We act as though being accused of not being normal is some great slight. I don’t really get it.

      Reply

    • Elphaba says:

      08:18am | 11/01/11

      Normal is a setting on a washing machine.

      Here’s to abnormality.  I like to call it eccentricity. grin

      As for Scientology, that’s just bloody dangerous.  I’m all for letting people be and believe in whatever they like, but when they peddle ideas that are just plain harmful, something should be done.

      Stripping their tax exemption would be a great start.  They’re not so much a religion as a celebrity club.  They should be made to pay taxes like any other business.

    • gonzo says:

      08:39am | 11/01/11

      Bilby, you ripper! You just gave me an idea for a new mental disorder!

      “Normality crave disorder”... Doesn’t is sound very DSM-V? If you have a better idea, let me know and we’ll share the profits after selling the idea to pharmaceutical companies.

    • Bilby says:

      08:45am | 11/01/11

      To abnormality! Like normal was anything to aspire to.

    • Bilby says:

      08:59am | 11/01/11

      gonzo - May I suggest “Opprimo normal volueris”. Everything sounds more medical in Latin.

    • PD says:

      09:38am | 11/01/11

      Most people aspire to be normal. Be be abnormal is to be a bit alienated from the main group, an outsider, viewed with a bit of suspicion. This commences in the schoolyard and the attitude becomes entrenched with most people. People who are abnormal often learn to keep quiet about it.  It’s not a great career or relationship move to be viewed as abnormal in those spheres. I suspect anyone who claims to be ‘abnormal’ is just an attention seeker - and there’s nothing abnormal about that.

    • Shifter says:

      10:40am | 11/01/11

      @Elphaba - you must have one of those fancy washing machines. Mine only has ‘Regular’. Which for some unknown reason made me think of Harry Potter.

      @Gonzo - you need a catchy acronym that no-one understands! How about NoCraD? Or Ennseedee?

    • Luce says:

      10:41am | 11/01/11

      Normality shouldn’t be anything to aspire to! None of the great people of history were normal.

      @Bilby, that sounds like an italian dish.. and now I’m hungry.

      @Elphaba, its such a scam that religions are tax exempt, they operate as businesses just like everything else. And, by the way, there was a celebration for Mary MacKillop that was funded by tax payer dollars. As a non-believer I feel pretty ripped off by that!! Its not like the catholic church can’t bloody well afford it themselves.

    • Bilby says:

      10:44am | 11/01/11

      PD - It does start in the school yard, and most people learn to get over it there. Not everyone can be normal, and it’s unhealthy to want to be something that you can’t be. It’s the abnormal bit that makes each of us a unique individual.

      As for a career, the most successful people are all abnormal. In what way? They’re the most successful. That’s not normal.

      Then to relationships. Normal may be ok, but standing out will get you a better mate biologically speaking.

      See? Abnormal is only a bad thing if you insist that it is. You don’t have to. Everyone is free to make their own choice.

    • Elphaba says:

      10:50am | 11/01/11

      @Shifter, lol, yep it’s pretty fancy. When the wash cycle finishes it keeps making a noise at you until you lift the lid.

      Very annoying if it does it in the middle of my nap time…

      Attack of the Regular!  Mwahahahaha….

      @Luce, I don’t see any problems with churches being made to pay tax.  I don’t think they should pay over and above what a business of equal value is paying - in fact I’d be happy to see them get tax breaks (not exemptions) depending on how much money they pour back into the community.  But the fact that Scientology calls itself a religion in the first place is just offensive.

    • dan says:

      11:38am | 11/01/11

      The obsession with normal? “Normal”, as in actually relating to people & situations with some degree of emotion?

      If that is normal, then i, and many others who have clinical depression, may be somewhat “obsessed” with attaining ‘Normality’.

    • Bilby says:

      12:11pm | 11/01/11

      dan - So essentially you mean “normal”, like a person with chronic back pain might yearn to be “normal”. Fair enough. I think that’s a rose coloured vision of normal, but I can understand it none the less.

    • PD says:

      02:24pm | 11/01/11

      So Bilby - if you went for a job interview or on a date, you’d quite happily proclaim yourself to be ‘abnormal’ in terms of your mental health - not your lifestyle, mind, that’s not what we’re discussing here. Abnormal in terms of mental health=not happy, not having a positive outlook, not possessing good pressure coping strategies, not good at interpersonal relationships etc.

      People with ‘abnormal’ mental health might be very creative and possibly successful in selfish terms, but it doesn’t mean they’re good to live or work with.

      You’re talking through your hat, trying to make a tenuous proposition fly.

    • Shifter says:

      02:58pm | 11/01/11

      @PD - I think what we’re discussing here is that it is accepted that not everyone is normal. Some people have their quirks - I, for example, line things up and try to keep everything squared. Tory’s brought up the fact that some of these quirks are now starting to be classified as mental illness, which cheapens ‘real’ issues and also draws scant funds away from helping those.

      So, yes, I’d probably tell a date I was partly obsessive/compulsive, my housemate finds it hilarious. It’s irrelevant in a job interview so why bring it up?

      For someone with a more serious mental condition, there is aduty of disclosure, so I’d imagine I would tell an employer if I suffered from depression, but probably not a date first time out. I’d also be accepting of the person who advised me they suffer such a condition.

      What I’m reading from Bilby’s statements is that bad abnormality should be accepted and good abnormality should be celebrated. You can’t paint the two with the same brush.

    • Bilby says:

      03:17pm | 11/01/11

      PD - I wouldn’t mention it, just like I don’t mention my dodgy wrists so I guess you have a point.

    • Elphaba says:

      03:24pm | 11/01/11

      @Shifter, I put coins in a vending machine from largest (denomination) to smallest…

    • Shifter says:

      04:41pm | 11/01/11

      @Elphaba - doesn’t that mean you end up with more change? If you put a $2 coin in to pay for something that’s $1.75, whilst holding a $1, 50c, 20c and 5c coin… you’d end up with more coinage clogging up your wallet!

    • Elphaba says:

      05:13pm | 11/01/11

      @Shifter, yep, that sounds about right.  You should see my change tin.  It all goes back in the bank anyway, lol

    • Amelia says:

      02:13am | 12/01/11

      Haha this line of replies has had me in stitches!  Especially @Shifter! haha I line up M&M’s in the palm of my hand by colour.  I must eat them in the correct proportion too.  I can’t eat 2 green and then a blue.  It needs to be blue, green, red, blue, green, red!

      I’m totally normal though.  I wouldn’t see a doctor about it.  It’s just a little comforting thing I do.  Don’t know where it came from, can’t be bothered with therapy to find out!

      I think as long as your ‘habits’ or behaviour isn’t adversely affecting your life (as in, you can’t leave the house or hold down a job/conversation etc) then just go with it.  It’s not that bad!

    • Sherekahn says:

      08:59am | 12/01/11

      Bilby, you have seemingly never heard Dylan Thomas’s;  “Under Milk Wood” on audio, with Richard Burton in the cast.
      There is NO such thing as Normal.
      Try a Library.

    • Shifter says:

      11:59am | 12/01/11

      @Amelia - I also sort Skittles by colour before I taste the rainbow.

    • Jim says:

      06:38am | 11/01/11

      You’re spot on about being under-funded. It appalls me that our governments can give away billions each year in foreign aid and disaster relief but to raise money for mental health we need to sell pens on a street corner. My partner works in disability services, she’s a high level manager with over 10 years experience. She would also earn more flipping burgers at McDonalds!

      But who determines ‘normal’ anyway? If you drill down, most of our leading neuro- and heart surgeons, scientists, researchers etc could be classed as having Aspergers….do they know everything there is to know about their chosen field? Absolutely. Can they hold a conversation about the weather? Not a chance.

      Reply

    • Res says:

      08:14am | 11/01/11

      Wow Jim. What a gross generalisation! To label “most of our leading neuro- and heart surgeons, scientists, researchers etc could be classed as having Aspergers”, and to imply consistent social problems in these professions is completely unfounded. Have you actually met any of these people? Had one bad experience? Been watching too many American medical dramas?

    • Jim says:

      08:24am | 11/01/11

      Huh?? Who said any of it was a bad experience? What I wrote was in context with Tory’s article, and the need to give everyone that’s not on some imaginary mean through a bell curve a label that justifies some particular quirk that may or may not be peculiar to some.

      FYI - yes, I have indeed met many of these people.

      Now take a Bex and have a lie down petal…

    • Peta Lampard says:

      08:55am | 11/01/11

      “My partner works in disability services, she’s a high level manager with over 10 years experience. She would also earn more flipping burgers at McDonalds!”

      She must be a very high levl manager to make less than a burger flipper at Mickey D’s.
      She would do much better if she joined a union. Better pay and conditions would follow on.

    • Shane says:

      09:05am | 11/01/11

      Jim, just because someone questions your post doesn’t mean you have to be a patronising arse to them. How about you go “take a Bex and have a lie down petal…”

      If you don’t like people asking questions about your opinions, keep them to yourself!

    • Jim says:

      09:56am | 11/01/11

      Point taken Shane, and I apologise Res.

      Peta…the unions cover the public service, and ensure that most of the tiny amounts of money headed that way go towards fat salaries and work vehicles, instead of into the people they are set up to assist. My lady works for an NGO, she loves it and has very high job satisfaction as they actually help the community. Imagine how much better it could be if they got more funding!

    • Reg says:

      10:09am | 11/01/11

      If we were all the same, ..normal,... there’d be no interaction and that only happens when we’re dead. Mental dysfunction is when we are assessed as being at either extreme of the bel curve. On the right hand side we have Eric and that other guy, and on the left, everyone else.

    • Steph says:

      07:24am | 11/01/11

      Jim, totally agree with your second comment. I know one man my husband used to work with in Canada got a PhD in Metaphysics for the sheer sake of it, realised there wasn’t much of a career in it, and then went and got a PhD in Actuarial Studies. He couldn’t look me in the eye or mumble more than “Hello” but by gods he was a genius. Socially he didn’t have a clue. No friends, didn’t go out, couldn’t hold a conversation, but he was more intelligent and more knowledgeable (in his fields) then I ever will be.

      Reply

    • Res says:

      08:19am | 11/01/11

      Again, you know one man! Wow, then every scientist and mathematician must be socially clueless.
      How is labelling intelligent people with social deficits relevant to a supposed mental health crisis?
      The support has always been readily available whenever I’ve needed it.

    • PaulB says:

      08:47am | 11/01/11

      We’re not talking about you Res, even if you are.

    • Steph says:

      09:56am | 11/01/11

      Well, first off, the comment was meant to be in the “reply” slot of Jim’s comment, not a separate statement in itself.

      I’m in no way saying that every mathematician or scientist is socially clueless. I gave an example - doesn’t mean I only know one man. I could list half a dozen I know personally off the top of my head without thinking. That doesn’t generalize it. It’s saying from my experience, some people with Aspergers (and I say some - my hubby’s sister has it and definitely does not fit into this category) are very, very brilliant. And sometimes you don’t have to have a “disorder” to be brilliant but shy. As the saying goes (round the actuarial circles anyway): “The difference between an introverted Actuary and an extroverted Actuary? An interoverted actuary looks at his own shoes while talking to someone, an extroverted actuary looks at the other persons!”

      How is it relevant to the mental health debate? I’d say because we see it as a crippling handicap that needs treatment when they live as well as any… “normal” (though even that term could be debated) person, albeit a little differently.

    • Struggle to be happy every day says:

      07:49am | 11/01/11

      Very funny article Tory.  Really like the analogy with your dog.

      Reply

    • LJD says:

      10:54am | 11/01/11

      @ Struggle to be happy every day

      So it’s you who has been taking my alternate happy days? I didn’t know it was like some time share scheme, but it does explain a lot.

    • MarK says:

      07:59am | 11/01/11

      Bug pharma - tick.

      The “doctors wives” rich list - tick.

      Overworked GP’s - tick.

      Advertising evils - tick.

      You got most of the major food groups of gross generalisations covered.

      As a user of the mental health system in Australia I feel it is far from broken. When I needed help it was there. It was open, accessible, cheap and good. Particularly so because I am a man.

      I do get your point re “minor” ailments. Sort of.

      “What is not good is the money-making industries’ tendencies to turn non-issues into issues, to create problems where previously there were just individual idosyncracies.”

      This statement however is confusing. Are you saying that some PR guy in a pharmaceutical company has invented new ailments to treat? If so aren’t your overworked GO’s complicit by handing out drugs to the “junkies”. Does saying no take more time than writing a script? Whose fault is it that the drugs have become mainstream then? Have the advertisers won and we all need a red pill to go in the morning and a green one to stop at night?

      If you want to whinge about minor ailments being given too much credence fine. If you want to say our medical is clogged up with irrelevancies ok just provide some proof and a fix.

      If you want to label our excellent mental health system totally inadequate then you are just wrong. Could it be better - sure. Could it use more funding - of course. Calls for improvements in services and funding from people that work in the provisioning of the services and use the provided funds are nothing new or extraordinary.

      Reply

    • Kate says:

      09:45am | 11/01/11

      It’s really promising that you have been able to access Australia’s mental health system with relative ease, I’m glad it has worked out for you.
      A lot of people aren’t so lucky though. For many people (including myself) the services are there, the doctors are available, but the cost makes it impossible. You can get 12-18 sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist covered by Medicare - but what happens after that? What do you do when you’re diagnosed with a mental illness and your doctor wants to see you once a week for an indefinite period, and you can’t afford it?
      Medication is more reasonable, but still pricey and for those of us on lower incomes, getting the medication you need often requires some creative budgeting. And it’s not something you can go without - if I stop taking anti-depressants, I can’t work or go to uni.

      The system seems to work OK for people who need care for a short-term period, eg those suffering situational depression. It’s still not very well equipped to deal with the chronically mentally ill.

    • MarK says:

      12:54pm | 11/01/11

      Been in long term care for years including time in institutions for months at a time.

      Seems to work fine for me at least. I really can’t comment on others experience though - only my own.

    • Bobster says:

      01:25pm | 11/01/11

      @ Kate,

      Australia’s mental health system must be excellent because MarK, a committed conservative, can afford it if he needs it.

      And, of course, if a Tory can afford something then everyone who can’t must surely be the architect of their own misery.

      @MarK, you won’t be happy until all media communication is done through spread sheets and convenient lists of pros and cons, will you?

      Congratulations on not blaming the Greens though.

    • The Badger says:

      02:01pm | 11/01/11

      mark
      II know this may sound strange to you, but you are one of the lucky ones. For many people who struggle with mental illness, seeking help is the last thing they contemplate.
      I called a mental health line to see what I could do to help a friend who was obviously suffering from depression and talking about suicide. I was told that there was nothing that could be done unless that person harmed themselves or others, went to a GP, or presented at an emergency room.

      Thank goodness you sought help yourself, or had family help steer you toward help.

      Others drift homelessly and hopelessly from soup kitchen to soup kitchen being abused and spat on by society.

    • Sally says:

      03:08pm | 11/01/11

      YES.

      As someone with severe Bipolar affective disorder i agree.
      I also work in the mental sector and adults on a low income. I have rarely had issues with accessing them appropriate services. In the instances where there are issues are generally with WORKERS having issues with things like personality disorders.

      Beds are a problem but are also rarely the solution. Time limits are a problem but again agencies aren’t wholly and solely solution. Recovery is much bigger than this.

    • MarK says:

      06:34pm | 11/01/11

      No Bobster. I just think statements like this

      “Australia’s mental health system is a shambles. It’s under-funded and plagued by bureaucracy and a lack of political will. “

      I believe this is totally false, a misrepresentation of the truth and an insult to people doing some great work.

      As with every service provider there will be good and bad but to call it a shambles is ridiculous.

      I don’t do anything special to afford it Bobster. Just have normal private health insurance, a normal wage and three kids. I am not rich. It is not a case of affordability - at the least I did not pick this up anywhere in Tory’s piece.

      I do understand that will disappoint you and really detract from the class warfare narrative you wish to promote Bobster but meh. I just call it like I see it.

      Oh and no to your other statement. Just no. You don’t find it a bit lazy to blame “big pharma” whatever that is, for deficiencies in the public health system.

      However given a choice between clique journalism and spreadsheets and pro and con lists I will take the latter every time.

      I agree Badger I was “lucky”. It must be hard to be on the outside looking in. It is very hard for me to comment on what you went through. I certainly do understand your frustration and I guess feeling of impotence. i guess sometimes you got to risk the friendship and physically drag them along to a GP at worst. It is a tough decision whatever course you take and kudos to you for having a go to help your mate.

    • Bobster says:

      08:46pm | 11/01/11

      @ Mark

      “Australia’s mental health system is a shambles. It’s under-funded and plagued by bureaucracy and a lack of political will.”

      Rather than insulting the health workers, I would see that line as crying out for help on their behalf.

      And the question is of resourcing and access, and when the question is of resourcing and access it is always about affordability.

      And I also know that where you come from three kids and a normal job is not rich, but to thousands of poor bloody bastards out there without six kids and no job, normal private health care is something of a luxury.

      Also, if you want to kill any sort of class warfare narrative, stop being so predictable.

    • MarK says:

      10:23pm | 11/01/11

      Crying out for help on their behalf?

      Really? If it is a shambles it has to be the fault of the people in it. My contention is it is not a shambles.

      Kepp your class warfare theme going Bob. It is all you have I guess.

      Pro-tip: Someone is always worse off than someone else.

      Try harder. Please.

    • John says:

      08:01am | 11/01/11

      In 2006 I had the following piece published in a major news publication.  I think it’s worth repeating because, like many, I had a period in my life where I hit the wall big time.  The issue of depression and male suicide was something I came to understand personally.  I also learned that it can effect anyone, anywhere and anytime.  The shame, I believe is in the fact that there’s a fear and stigma attached to anthing concerning mental health and therefore politicians are afraid of approaching the subject.

      The danger of denying that men suffer depression

      We must address the issue of depression and suicide that afflicts too many men. This doesn’t discount the problem among females but look at the ratios - males are more successful than females in finding ways to end their lives; this is tragic.

      You would hardly know it if you met me, but I hide my depression well. That is what I have been taught to do. Numerous visits to various specialists confirm my condition, which has become progressively worse with time.

      Recently it was revealed that Steve Rogers suffered from it; John Brogden suffered a bout of it, and so did Rene Rivkin. Many of us at various stages in our lives may be overcome by it.

      My cycle started as a reaction to adverse work circumstances; Mr Rogers’s may have begun with the death of his first wife; Mr Brogden’s possibly as a result of revelations in the media about his inappropriate behaviour; and Mr Rivkin’s seems to have been a combination of an existing illness and circumstances surrounding his criminal charges.

      Whether circumstances surrounding this troubling problem are situational or an inherent part of a person’s make-up, the stigma and shame remain the same.

      After two years of seeking support for the crippling problem I faced, the insurer in my worker’s compensation case has finally accepted that my despair runs deep.

      Unfortunately, the denial by others and myself that there was indeed a problem has only exacerbated my troubles.

      Have I contemplated suicide? Unfortunately, yes. However, I have been fortunate enough to have support that at times, in spite of my pride, I’ve begrudgingly accepted and which has helped me overcome some really dark episodes.

      Do we really accept and understand that males, in particular, can and do suffer as deeply on an emotional level as females, and are males really any better-equipped to deal with their pain than females? I would suggest not. The great shame in many cases is that if you’re not bleeding, you’re fine. And if you do express your pain, it is seen as a sign of weakness. This seems to be a uniquely male thing - take the pain, brush yourself off and get on with it.

      There really is no such thing as “superman”. We need to make it more socially acceptable for males to reach out for help, without making them feel defective.

      Reply

    • St. Michael says:

      11:13am | 11/01/11

      Well said.

      For all the limp-wristed whingeing about supposed “overmedication” and that “everyone’s got a disorder these days”, it’s still a hell of a lot more tolerable than the good old “put up, have a beer, and if that doesn’t work blow your brains out, but above all don’t talk about it” attitude that Australian society—particularly for men—imposed on people with depression for the preceding 50 years or so.

      Of course, this is coupled up with the stupid attitude we have to being men and having feelings in this country, but that’s another story entirely.

    • John says:

      01:21pm | 11/01/11

      Exactly St Michael, When we don’t learn to process our emotions because of the dismissive attitudes toward emotions in our culture we’re creating a society full of emotional cripples - the newpapers and tv news is full of it (especially our politicians).  For example, how hard is it to admit our mistakes without feeling inadequate and dysfunctional - besides being emotionally limited, too many people are also unable to accept they’re imperfect and therefore fallible - I mention this because the old way of denying we have feelings runs parallel to our need to hide our fallibility.  Make mistakes and you face ridicule suffer from depression and you face stigma (two sides of the same coin - both view people as robots devoid of feelings)

    • Grandmother says:

      08:06am | 11/01/11

      .try living around the inner city of Sydney…so many people mentally ill, incapable of sticking with their medical regimes, homeless, resorting to self medicating with illegal substances, being harassed daily by the law, confused, incapable of advocating for themselves with public housing or Centrelink…and being treated like pariahs…it is so sad. I just spent 7 months with one family member who has acquired brain injury…getting him on the pension, housed and medicated appropriately…there is no central coordinated help for this stuff. I am an ex public service manager of some 30 years…some of it spent in Centrelink…and it was an uphill battle for me…god alone knows how the average person does it… The situation is really sad and really disgraceful…the state blames the feds and the feds blame the states…

      Reply

    • Jim says:

      08:26am | 11/01/11

      Forget about the public service Grandmother - the NGO’s are the ones you’ll get results from.

    • Grandmother says:

      09:45am | 11/01/11

      @ Jim..yes exceptionally well aware of the NGOs and their roles now…which is exceedingly fortunate for me…on behalf of the family member…I guess my point is that there is now wholistic management of the variations of mental health and acquired brain injury sufferers…and certainly NONE of the unfortunate street people with mental illness would have a hope in hell of getting help…without someone like me to assist them…it is tragic and impoverishes our society as a whole Jim…it is much more serious than just having a cheap shot at public servants…the governments need to ACT in a coordinated manner immediately!

    • True Believer says:

      08:22am | 11/01/11

      Congratulations Tory on raising this extremely serious issue. The only thing is your statement as follows,

      “So that odd habit of worrying about leaving the stove on, or of being unable to throw out junk, or of getting a bit down from time to time, becomes a specific, nameable problem”

      The difference between behaviour that is diagnosable and that which is just a bit quirky as I understand it is the degree to which it disables the person in being able to participate in community life or in life generally.

      For instance the worry about the stove being left on may be just a tendency to over worry about things or it may be severe Anxiety Disorder, which can be extremely disabling, preventing the person from many activities non-sufferers enjoy.

      Being unable to throw junk out may be different from being unwilling to throw it out. One may just be a tendency to hoard, the other the extremely disabling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder where the person believes that if they do this action or that action terrible things will occur.

      Getting a bit down from time to time, may be just passing sadness, temporary low mood, grief from loss or it may be the extremely disabling Depression or Uni-Polar. 

      As for Scientology, well that really is a pack of fairy stories designed to exploit and control and its followers in attacking the use of drugs have the capacity to do great harm to some of our most vulnerable citizens.

      You are dead right when it comes to under-funding. Mental illness accounts for the highest (I am open to be corrected) degree of the burden of disability in our community and yet it receives a pittance in comparison to physical illnesses and is grossly misunderstood still by many in the community.

      The continued stigmatisation of people by using psychiatric terminology to ridicule or present someone as dangerous/violent is a dangerous and highly undesirable practice. It is often done in ignorance, not seen by those who do it as having the capacity to do real harm, but it can and does.

      Thank you again for raising this important topic.

      Reply

    • Markus says:

      09:25am | 11/01/11

      Hi TB. So the difference between a quirk and a diagnosable condition is essentially the extremity of the behaviour?
      The big question that raises for me is who determines the extremity? Is it the individual, or a third party?

      For example, you say it is the degree to which it disables the person in being able to participate in community life or in life generally. Is that their ability to participate in life as they wish to, or in the way that someone else (family etc) believe that they should?

      Regarding stigmatisation, I still believe being overly zealous on people’s use (or misuse) of terms would have the opposite effect, reinforcing that people with a mental illness are different from ‘normal’ people.
      For me, nearly everything in life should be able to be joked about (in the right context). It is finding humour in any topic that brings people together.

    • Paul Neri says:

      08:38am | 11/01/11

      Self-indulgence, that’s what it’s mostly about. Give us any opportunity to focus on ourselves and we surely do and we create a health care industry in the process.

      Look at counselling. The youth of today seem particularly fragile little petals and any exposure to life’s vicissitudes is inevitably accompanied by taxpayer- funded- time- off -school- counselling and then, next day, sensitive little souls are back playing their violent video games! What a joke!

      Reply

    • Cloud Strife says:

      09:04am | 11/01/11

      Because it’s just ‘self indulgence’ that makes people want to die just so you can stop feeling this way, right, Paul?

    • PD says:

      09:41am | 11/01/11

      The conservative person’s answer to any problem: ‘harden up, buster’.

    • Paul Neri says:

      10:20am | 11/01/11

      Some people undoubtedly do have real depressive illnesses deserving of treatment - most others have ... the vapours!

      Mr Churchill once muttered something about half the people in the world turn up for work feeling poorly but ... turn up nevertheless and get on with it.

      It’s interesting to note that whenever attention is given to some condition a human being is labouring under, it often worsens, which is to say that often we cope quite well with a burden of some description until we are made to feel a victim and then we progress from self-reliance to dependency. We really are rather pathetic. Ninnies made by a Nanny State!

    • Elphaba says:

      10:53am | 11/01/11

      @Paul Neri, I’m not sure getting up and ‘getting on with it’ is the right thing.

      Like any other illness, isn’t it better to catch it early, when the symptoms are mild, as opposed to waiting, until it might be too late?

      And video games to not create violent depressed people.  Where’s your research on that?

    • Paul Neri says:

      10:53am | 11/01/11

      Complaint Against Medical Profession

      My wife is batty, in my non-expert opinion, and she complains to anyone who’ll listen (and GPs are paid to listen) that I am the cause of all her angst. Recently her female GP said she should dump me (in so many words). Now since when did GPs provide marriage counselling? The GP wouldn’t have known that my wife has been complaining about me for ... 31 years!

    • LJD says:

      11:38am | 11/01/11

      @Paul Neri

      I have been thinking of how best to respond to your earlier post in an articulate and thoughtful way, after all there are people who do abuse the system.  However, your comment at 10.53 negated that requirement and displayed the actual source of your comment. You guys/guyettes really need to talk.

      Or play more violent video games together - I do know of husband and wife teams online that kick butt.

    • Steph says:

      02:01pm | 11/01/11

      LJD, the best online teams are husband and wife. Fact.

      Paul, I can see what you’re saying to a point. If you cant tell the difference between someone on their anti-depressants and off the, then chances are they don’t need them in the first place. We all have our ups and downs and sometimes a low can be pretty low. Doesn’t mean you need meds for it.

      However, that said, if you’ve ever seen someone with real depression skip their meds for a couple of days…. you’d understand that depression is a real thing, it affects some people so profoundly that, if not on their medication, will sink into such a low that they will try to commit suicide. You may be thinking “that’s up to them”, but trust me, it’s something no child should have to watch a parent go through. Trust me. Depression is real, it’s sorting out the attention-seeking cases from the real ones.

    • Tom says:

      03:02pm | 11/01/11

      Paul, you have raised an interesting topic, being people who abuse the nanny state as an attention seeking fix.

      The flip side of that abuse is the need for the nanny state to self justify and a tendency of the nanny state to build empires and create a “ninnie” market.

      I cannot help thinking that the numerous blogs one reads with the seductive theme “it is all right to admit you are inadequate”, ” men should be allowed to be more in touch with themselves”. I regard that as abuse of those people. A cure is not really on the cards, just more free counselling at the taxpayers expense.

      This creates a dependency. I consider that the people who peddle and normalise this sort of dependency are no better than heroin dealers.

    • biff says:

      08:52am | 11/01/11

      Before we waste any money on Australia’s mental health issues lets satisfy ourselves that our priorities are being met:

      1. Indonesia doesn’t need any more patrol boats funded by Australians’ tax dollars
      2. Indonesia doesn’t need any more Islamic schools built by Australians’ tax dollars
      3. Indonesia doesn’t need any more Australian tax dollars to study AGW
      4. PNG MPs don’t need new flashy white cars funded by Australians’ tax dollars
      5. Africa doesn’t need more Australian tax dollars for its water reticulation systems
      6. No more rivers in Indo-China need to be traversed by an Australian taxpayer funded bridge
      7. A plethora of other causes funded by Australian taxpayer dollars
      8. Australia’s mental health issues receive what is left over.

      What could be fairer than that?

      Reply

    • MarK says:

      06:38pm | 11/01/11

      Dude - that won’t get the member for Griffith into the UN now will it?

    • PaulB says:

      08:57am | 11/01/11

      Government everywhere took an active decision to defund mental health in the 1980s.  It was dressed up in the guise of “De-institutionalization”, as though it was supposed to represent some process of normalization/mainstreaming/liberation etc etc etc…..The outcome has seen the problems associated with mental health farmed out to public hospital medical beds, the prison system or community services, none of whom are able to provide a unified holistic service.  The problem wasn’t Institutions, but the poor management of them that resulted in “warehousing” of patients with longer term needs that would then never be addressed.

      Reply

    • Cloud Strife says:

      09:01am | 11/01/11

      I was first diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder at 8, and because my father “doesn’t believe” in depression (basically he told me I just get over it whenever I had an episode), I am now 31, with MDD and a Generalised Anxiety and Panic Disorder, and will most likely be medicated for the rest of my life.
      Today I have the brain zaps, vertigo and the uncontrollable urge to bawl my eyes out. This doesn’t happen every day, or even every month, but it’s so hard to carry on when you are so scared that every day will be like, for the rest of your life.
      So, no, not everyone is over diagnosed, and real mental disorders are crippling. I just want to get better. I *wish* I was ‘normal’.

      Reply

    • LJD says:

      11:17am | 11/01/11

      @Cloud Strife

      I’m picking up what you’re putting down (I heard that phrase used seriously at work - did I laugh - now I can’t let it go).

      Goggle CrazyMed for stories -serious and humorous, it ain’t too bad y’know.

      PS thanks for the brain zaps line - never knew how to describe them before ;o)

    • empire says:

      11:31am | 11/01/11

      If close to half the population suffers from depression and anxiety then you are normal,so hope that makes you feel a little better.
      Always remember that there is always someone better off than you,and always someone worse off !!!  I find that helping people worse of makes me feel a little better…

    • john says:

      09:02am | 11/01/11

      To stay “normal” I prefer a daily diet of THE PUNCH because the forum is a buffet of people across Australia and it sheds light on how crazy everything and everyone really is, so it helps me feel mentally fit & healthy normal to get me through the day.

      Reply

    • N says:

      09:43am | 11/01/11

      Interesting article Tory, which re-affirms what I had already suspected.

      I actually suffer from severe depression, few people know about it as I try my best to keep it off the radar of work colleagues and friends. However, over Christmas I was at a BBQ and listening to some of my mates girlfriends talk about their “depression” and how they would pop a tablet the Dr prescribed if they were feeling down on occasion. I didn’t say a word, but knew that it was a big fat placebo as I’ve been on meds for over a decade.

      For those of you who don’t know, anti-depressive medication doesn’t work instantly like an aspirin for a headache. It takes close to a month for the chemicals to actually build up enough in your system to do their job. So taking a tablet when you’re feeling a little down is entirely pointless. However there is a reason for Drs to prescribe this stuff aside from kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies. 

      A while ago I was tired of taking meds constantly and the associated side effects, I was doing well mentally, so decided to start cutting back my meds slowly and try to come off them totally over a period of 6 months.  To cut a long story short, things went rather badly about 4 months in, so I went to my local GP to get a referral to my psychiatrist as it had lapsed.  When I explained the situation to the GP, she was beside herself with worry. I couldn’t understand why, but I later found out that she was directly accountable if I were to suicide after she had been made aware of my condition and refused meds from her. Given she had no prior experience with my condition; I figured my psychiatrist would be far better placed to make a more appropriate decision as to what meds I needed.

      Hence, this is why I believe that a lot of people, who are having a bad week, claim its depression to their GP and get meds; in the end it absolves the Dr of any responsibility, the patients think they are getting better; everyone wins, except the tax payer who gets to foot the Medicare and PBS bills.

      Reply

    • Cloud Strife says:

      10:21am | 11/01/11

      Well, that’s not entirely true, 1mg of Valium works wonderfully on those panic attacks that spring out of nowhere and bite you on the bum.

      For me, at least, of course YMMV.

    • Depressed says:

      10:38am | 11/01/11

      You are right. I know people in my family who have anxiety and depression like me, but instead of getting counselling they just rely on their pills to make things better. To me that’s only masking what the problem is and nothing is done to tackle that head on.

      Counselling for me didn’t work though. I don’t know whether I didn’t give it long enough, but because it brought up all my inner anger, I let out that anger instead of bottling it. And it made me more angrier than I should be.

      For me I don’t know what the solution is. I’m going back to the GP this week to tell her I’m feeling bad again. Part of me wants her to give me some pills to help, but part of me says that they won’t work.

    • N says:

      12:16pm | 11/01/11

      Cloud Strife; Agreed, though anxiety and depression are two entirely different illnesses and treated as such. There is nothing in the arsenal for severe depression to alleviate the effects instantly in similarity to the use of Valium for anxiety. The best that can be done short term (while waiting weeks for the medication to actually take effect) is to be doped up to such an extent that you can’t function, thereby minimising harm to yourself and potentially others.

    • Steph says:

      02:10pm | 11/01/11

      N,

      I completely hear where you’re coming from. My mother (now 49) has been diagnosed with depression and OCD for twenty years. She doesn’t just pop a pill when she’s feeling down, she takes anti-depressants daily. A couple of years back, she decided she didn’t need them, and would - as you tried to do - phase them out after a time.

      I swear I never want to live through that again.

      I don’t know about taking a couple of months to kick in (the pills, I mean). Mum would just miss 2-3 doses and she’d sink into her own void. It would take the same amount of doses to bring her back to normal again. Perhaps the different medications work differently? (gee, there’s a no brainer, but you know what I mean).

    • Luce says:

      09:55am | 11/01/11

      Good article.. and you’re completely right, our mental health system is in dire need of a makeover. I realised this when I tried to access help and found it particularly difficult. Depression might be a recognised problem, but people still have trouble talking about it, which only makes the sufferer feel more and more isolated. And too many people think medication is the solution, which it isn’t, it’s only part of the solution.

      As for the need to be normal.. f**k that! If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that life is so much more interesting outside the bounds of normality wink

      Reply

    • Depressed says:

      10:42am | 11/01/11

      Yeah but not when it takes 30 minutes or more checking your house to make sure everything is turned off in case there’s a fire - especially when you live in a 2 bedroom flat! That’s not interesting. It’s downright annoying.

    • Carol Ford says:

      10:06am | 11/01/11

      The government in their so called wisdom of de-institutionalization have created more problems in society than they can cope with.The institutions were sold off for the government to reap millions from the sale of crown land.In my area they closed down the Mental health hospital and as a consequence of this my country area has the highest ratio of mental health patients in the state.As a consequence of this my schitzophrenic son was sent home from assessment 3 times in a row (in 3 weeks) my boy sadly didn,t make it.He overdosed 3 days after the last assessment 3 weeks before his 25th birthday.This should not have happened to my son or anyone elses.

      Reply

    • ?? says:

      10:29am | 11/01/11

      take funding from the breeder bonus (and the various other middle class welfare bonus’s) and put it into mental illness

      Reply

    • Depressed says:

      10:32am | 11/01/11

      I think a big problem is that mental health issues are so trivialised in our society. Like a bout of depression is just seen as being a ‘phase’ and that we’ll get over it. If you don’t get over it you’re looked at like a weirdo.

      I tried to get counselling last year for severe depression. I went straight to a counsellor instead of going to my GP first. She helped me a little, but basically told me that if I go see my GP she can do a test and get Medicare funding. Mind you this is all costing money. Questionnaire takes 30 minutes and I get funding from Medicare. But as soon as the medicare funding kicks in say goodbye to help from your health fund.

      The counselling worked okay, but found it made me more angry than I should be. I had a lot of inbuilt anger at certain people in my life and letting it out with her made me let it out with them. Things happened so I stopped going.

      From time to time I still get depressed. I am working through it. Buddhism helps me a lot, but I still feel a little let down by the system. It gets hard when you wake up asking yourself why were you ever born.

      Reply

    • Luce says:

      11:00am | 11/01/11

      Depressed, I’ve been through something similar (minus the anger) and found that going to the right counselor is very important, as the wrong one can just make you feel worse.

      However, counselling can only do so much, the biggest factor for me was time and being able to come to terms with and understand what I was going through. Everyone’s experience is different, but I found that once I could get my head around it I felt like I could gain more control and gain some confidence in my ability to find a way out.

      Even though its been several years and I’m much better, the battle isn’t over. The black dog constantly lingers in the corner of the room. I feel for you and hope you manage to work through it. As hopeless as some mornings can be, just keep going. You WILL be fine.

    • guy lee hanlon says:

      10:52am | 11/01/11

      One can always tell when very seriously mentally ill people have extremely urgent need for mental health illness treatment from the badly failed medical system.
      They write comments on the Punch website comments forum noticeboard ( here)

      Reply

    • Ducks says:

      10:54am | 11/01/11

      “Most people I know (and I admit maybe I’m hanging around in the wrong circles) blithely talk about their mental quirks. They own their ‘disorders’ in a way that suggests they’re unlikely to let them go.”

      Tory I suggest you are right to suggest you are hanging out in the wrong circles. Maybe you need to find some happy, healthy friends, or tell them to harden up. In all of my friendship group, two have had mental health issues, have now recovered and it rarely gets mentioned.
      Not to trivialise their issues- they were serious and I am glad they got help. What annoys me is when others play the victim. It won’t help matters. If they do actually have an issue, encourage them to get help. Otherwise, politely ask them to shut up and quit their whinging.

      Reply

    • Ross says:

      11:08am | 11/01/11

      Depression is an insidious bastard. It is hard for anyone who has not experienced it to understand just how soul destroying it can be. Despite changes for the better in some respects, our medical systems are just woefully inadequate to cope. Nor it is helped by major organisations such as the Australian Public Service being allowed to dodge liability for workplace mental health issues by blatant lies as happened with me.

      Reply

    • Paul Horn says:

      11:44am | 11/01/11

      Paul Neri spot on mate. Lot’s of self indulgent, self obsessed twaddle. I know numbers of people who are either “depressed” or have some other sycophantic condition who have been sucking on the welfare teat for nigh on 20 years or more.

      The mental health industry bears much of the blame for this sorry state of affairs. And why would’nt they be proctive lobbysists as the greater the range of mental health issues the greater thier job security.

      One chap I know has a problem socialising with others so he enjoys the full Government disability benefit with the added bonus of a brand new trust (town) house. Yet he can book a flight to other states to attend concerts performed by his favouritre rock band.  Work it out? 

      Another cousin is an alcoholic who also enjoys full Governnment benefits and has done so for over 20 years. Another chap I know hates his parents, is now in his fifties and has never worked more than two years in his life. The list of parasites are endless. Another cousin is a drug addict and that is another story.

      The problem is that because all of these people live self indulged isolated lives their condition only worsens. I lived with one bloke in the 80’s who enjoyed the waccy baccy too much. At the time he was working but he gave that up and spent his whole dole cheque on illicit substances. His only desire was to get a trust house as he had been on the waiting list for quite a few years. After achieving his goal he descended into a much worse state due to his chosen isolation and circumstances . God only knows where he is now.

      What really irks me about all this tripe is that if the mental health advocates want greater funding then what do I as a taxpayer get in return? What percentage improvement can I expect in outcomes. That is if you want the mental health budget increased by 10% then I expect a 20% improvement in people cured becoming fully productive members of society paying their own way instread of shouting and screaming about their damned rights for greater public funding. Clearly from my experience the mental health crowd have been rabid failures nad shou,d hang thier heads in utter shame. Just when do dispense with the tissues and apply the jack boot!

      Reply

    • Cloud Strife says:

      01:25pm | 11/01/11

      You have absolutley NO idea what it’s like to have a mental illness.
      Yes, like everything else in the whole world, there are people who abuse the system. But how is punishing them going to help the majority of mentally ill people who hold down jobs, have relationships, friendships etc? We are just trying to do the best we can - all you can ask of anyone, really - and do not deserve to be villified by ignorant people like you who do not, cannot and will not understand what it’s like to live with brain misfiring.
      Look at brain scans of depression, anxiety, bipolar etc sufferers and tell me that this is ‘self indulgence’, when the pictures clearly show the affect on the brain.
      You poor, ignorant, ill informed person.

    • PaulB says:

      10:49pm | 11/01/11

      Punishing people who abuse the system will free up more money for those who don’t.  There is a difference between real mental health issues and the so-called “Borderline” personality.  Mental health in this country has become the world’s longest running sick-note for those with personality issues who just bleed the system without conscience.  Violent, drug-addicted young people with borderline personality disorders are one reason its getting so much harder to recruit Emergency Department personnel.  Compassion gets scarce when the fists and abuse are flying because they couldn’t get you to give them that Rohypnol or Pethidine they wanted so badly (again).

    • Ben C says:

      12:03pm | 11/01/11

      Another issue that needs to be looked at is the over-diagnosis of ADHD. Most of the time, this is a very incorrect diagnosis. Just because a child misbehaves, or is extremely active, does this automatically make them ADHD? Just because a child is not doing well at school, and is constantly mucking up in class, does not mean they are automatically ADHD - most likely if you present an activity that is interesting to them they will be able to concentrate and complete the task better than others.

      It’s not so much the doctors that are to blame - if they are presented with such a case, they need to make decisions. We should instead start looking at parents and their lazy habits of entertaining children with TV, X-Box/PlayStation/computers, rather than letting them go outside and play. Funding for research and awareness campaigns would more than likely reduce the diagnosis rates.

      Now, just have to wait for the makers of Ritalin to send their heavies to me…

      Reply

    • marley says:

      03:00pm | 11/01/11

      There was a very good article in the Drum a while ago (early December) about this issue.  Well, to be fair, the article was nonsense but the comments were excellent. You should look it up and read those comments.  They might change your mind about ADHD.  They certainly changed mine.

    • Ben C says:

      09:05am | 12/01/11

      @ marley

      Any chance you could provide a link?

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      12:06pm | 11/01/11

      Come on, Tory!
      To say that “Depression & other disorders have only recently become widely recognised problems” displays a total lack of knowledge about the issues surrounding Mental Health. What is true to say is that it is only because high-profile past & present politicians have come out & admitted they have suffered from Depression all their lives. The unforgiveable disgrace is that these high-profile former & current politicians have spent & spend most of their time demeaning, distorting & de-funding Mental Health in Australia.
      The Rann ALP Government in South Australia, has a State Treasurer who, by his own much-publicised, admission suffers from this debilitating condition, has spent the last 8 years, with just over three more to go, conducting the wholesale destruction of every Mental Health facility in the State. Rann & his Treasurer, Kevin Foley, have been selling off to Private Developers almost the entire Glenside Mental Health Hospital Campus. For what? Reportedly, yet another Shopping Centre & Private Housing! They are simply tossing all the in/out-patients into the community. The problem with that is that they are not supplying any support systems for even the most mentally unwell.
      We can only assume that the other States & Territories, whether controlled by the ALP or Liberal/Nationals are doing exactly the same thing. THEY SIMPLY DON’T CARE.
      Over the years, as was widely predicted, the States & Territories take from the GST has gone through the roof. In SA Land Tax and ALL fees,charges,taxes are the highest in Australia. The increase in revenues has gone up by billions of dollars during the last 8 years of ALP government. But, we are told, the State is damn near broke.
      SA Premier Mike Rann, has secretly poured Taxpayer’s millions into an area in Southern Italy by the name of Puglia. Purely by coincidence of course, his wife owns or has a familial interest in property there. He appointed a “Special Envoy” to Italy at a salary of a reported $200,000 per annum then secretly extended his contract to 2014 &, again using Taxpayer’s funds, secretly shelled out $17,000 to pay for the publication of a book of this man’s little paintings.
      YET.. there is NO Money for Mental Health.
      Actually that is unfair because, other than paying out,reported millions just to have a cyclist appear at the Tour Down Under, Rann & Foley tell us there is NO MONEY to actually do anything at all.
      Mental Health is a non-issue so far as our politicians are concerned.
      There is no kudos in it for them.
      No ego-enhancing plaques at the entrance to state-of-the-art facilities. plaques which, for the most part, members of the general public will never see.
      That the mentally unwell, or the staff employed to look after them, might see them is of no importance to any of our politicians.

      Reply

    • Shane says:

      12:24pm | 11/01/11

      Prove to me that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain, and I will listen. But no-one has ever proven such an imbalance exists. Until then, anxiety and depression sufferers, harden up. Psychosis, schizophrenia and out-and-out clinical depression I absolutely believe are real and dangerous conditions. But anxiety and temporary/moderate depression are just symptoms of life. I’d say they’re symptoms of not learning coping mechanisms through social interaction as children. Harden up and stop using them as excuses. Either way, medication should be a last resort for a tiny minority of those presenting with symptoms, not first-port-of-call in all cases. We have very little idea what those meds actually do!

      Reply

    • Cloud Strife says:

      01:36pm | 11/01/11

      Clinical depression is visible in a CAT Scan:

      http://www.healthline.com/galeimage?contentId=gecd_01_00109&id=gecd_01_img0066

      Also, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks pretty much go hand in hand with depression. I would believe you have never had an anxiety attack (ie, they are caused by nothing and can last for hours), or you would never say “harden up and stop making excuses”.
      Attitude’s like yours are the reason there is STILL such a stigma attached to mental illnesses.

    • Kate says:

      02:10pm | 11/01/11

      The meds increase levels of serotonin in the brain (at least, one category of meds known as SSRIs have this effect).
      Some anxiety disorders such as OCD are also visible in brain scans, to add to what Cloud Strife mentioned.

      Anxiety is a “real and dangerous condition”. People experiencing panic attacks have trouble breathing, tremors, hot and cold sweats, nausea, racing heartbeat etc-  when you’ve never had one before you really do feel like you’re about to die.
      There is a huge difference between normal anxiety caused by “symptoms of life” (eg. nerves before a job interview or date) and full-blown GAD and panic attacks.
      I know not everyone is well informed about the scope and effects of mental illness, but your comments to ‘harden up’ are extremely offensive to myself and other Punch readers with anxiety and depressive disorders. Sadly, there is still this stigma regarding mental health - if you told cancer patients to ‘harden up’ people would quite rightly be horrified, but people seem to get away with offensive comments regarding mental illness, which is no less serious.

    • Hardening Up says:

      02:22pm | 11/01/11

      You know it’s funny. I’ve been told the same thing all my life, so never done anything about it. I just figured it was normal and time to “harden up” like you said.

      But when you spend your weekends online researching the best ways to get out of this shithole. Boxing up your posessions and labelling who they should go to, collecting paperwork and making sure life won’t be made more difficult for those left behind, all the while accompanied by a constant state of immense fear like something terrible is happening or about to happen, heart beating in your chest, dizzy, nauseous, and feeling like someone is squeezing the air out of your lungs so you can’t breathe, when each time you get on your motorcycle, which you bought purely because you’re 34 times more likely to be killed on it, if you will be lucky enough to have someone else do it for you because you’ve been too spineless all this time, I sometimes wonder if the “Too tough to talk about it, just harden up” strategy is really working for me, or if it’s just making a constant battle all the more difficult because I have to do it alone.

    • Shane says:

      02:28pm | 11/01/11

      Actually, PET Scans are based entirely on assumptions. All emotions, positive and negative, will change the appearance of a PET scan. Even your weight will change the look of a PET scan. What those changes actually mean is open to debate and is far from decided upon.

      As I said, I believe that something is going on in the brain during clinical depression and shizophrenia etc. I also believe that using a vague ‘chemical imbalance’ theory to justify medicating is irresponsible.

      I also believe that a significant majority of those claiming mental illness are overly-suggestible and (subsequently) overmedicated. Some (a tiny minority) may in fact be out-and-out deceptive. But a large chunk of people will pick up the mentally ill tag and subconsciously run with it, whether it is true or not. People with true psychosis need help. People in social disadvantage and who make poor life choices and then blame it on mental illness are less worthy of help.

    • PD says:

      02:30pm | 11/01/11

      False on a number of grounds, Shane. There is good information about chemical imbalances leading to psychological conditions that can be improved through well-tested medication with good research into their side effects.

      If someone presents at a GP with severe anxiety or depression and possible suicide ideation, fortunately for them they won’t be told ‘it’s just an condition of life -harden up and stop making excuses’.

    • Shane says:

      02:53pm | 11/01/11

      Kate, seratonin levels are theorised to be a factor in clinical depression. Hasn’t been proven though. And the criminal level of failure of phsyciatric meds (ie people commiting suicide even while medicated) suggests we haven’t quite figured it out yet.

      And, frankly, cancer is much more serious than depression. Kills more, affects more lives to a greater degree, and (vitally) can be absolutely and definitively diagnosed and treated. As such, we afford it more attention, because we know more about what we’re dealing with and how to combat it. When it comes to mental health issues, our treatments are stabbing in the dark.

    • Jennifer Ward says:

      12:40pm | 11/01/11

      At the risk of being labelled ‘breedist’- why on earth would anyone keep a working dog like a Border Collie as a pet? The dog should be rounding up sheep 24/7 not laying around waiting for his human to take him for a walk. Same goes for Huskies- should be pulling a sled for 30ks a day in the snow. Then people like you wonder why these intelligent and vigorous breeds go mad and bite people and/or have neurotic tendancies. Nature will out - dogs aren’t furry children and they have different needs to humans.

      Reply

    • RT says:

      03:13pm | 11/01/11

      I’m breedist, too. Living in a cramped city property with owners who are busy out working a lot is not for some dog breeds. And then there are breeds not much more suited to being in the urban environment than are wolves.

    • Tessa says:

      02:17pm | 11/01/11

      I think the dumbing down of society is what the government is really trying to do. They are not concerned in helping the people of this country.

      Reply

    • Sally says:

      02:43pm | 11/01/11

      I’m a sufferer of a low-prevalence mental health issue and I also work in the sector.

      My personal belief is that there has been some improvements of late with the Mental health care plans. Mental health counselling is available in most parts of the country for a nominal or no charge through the General Practice Divisions and networks.

      Hospital beds aren’t available but hospital beds don’t generally “cure” anyone. Families of people with mental health often carry the burden

      Reply

    • MarK says:

      06:36pm | 11/01/11

      Out of interest Sally since you work in the sector do you agree with Tory’s assertion as follows

      “Australia’s mental health system is a shambles. It’s under-funded and plagued by bureaucracy and a lack of political will. “

      Interested to hear your view.

    • Bilby says:

      02:45pm | 11/01/11

      There’s been a lot of comment regarding the stigma attached to mental illness, and I have a theory. Could it be that there is more of a stigma regarding mental illness than physical illness because even our most knowledgeable people don’t really understand it? We don’t seem to do anything other than mask the symptoms. We have no cures, and counselling ideas seem to change faster than climate change theory. When the experts don’t understand it, why should we, average joe citizen, be expected to?

      As my old acoustics professor once said, anything with more than 6 variables is an art, not a science. We can’t even begin to measure most of the variables we’d need to make a definitive diagnosis, yet people speak with such confidence. Genuine sufferers get lumped in with the malingerers using the modern fad of “spectrum disorders” which reduces sympathy and increases stigma for all of them.

      Thoughts?

      Reply

    • Al says:

      02:54pm | 11/01/11

      I have a degree in psychology, yet since graduating i have suffered various ‘‘mental illnesses’’ which i believe have failed to be diagnosed correctly. Whilst there is evidence of chemical imbalances causing issues in some people, my triggers are environmental, in the form of the media and entertainment industry. I have seen numerous psychologists and psychiatrists over the past eight years and each one dismisses the problem as one that can be solved by medication. Whilst i willingly take these medications, the underlying issues (read: people) who have been in my life still haunt me, i just feel apathetic about my dire situation now, and forgotten by a system who çares more about maintaining harmony, keeping up appearances and making money than justice and wellbeing for its patients, who, like me are often the silent victims of problems like abuse, crime, war, political power plays and corruption. I do believe the mental health system is in crisis and many workers are underqualified and /or under resourced to deal with the complexity of some patients problems. Making the entire health system available online will surely add to the stigma of mental illness of having been ‘labelled for life’ - sometimes incorrectly - for those who simply want to move on with their lives. The government needs to act and provide more money for preventative research into these matters before we become a state of prozac zombies, like much of L. A. is, already. After all, in this day and age, who can say what is ‘‘normal” human being, anyway?

      Reply

    • daz says:

      03:04pm | 11/01/11

      Who are you to say what is minor and not minor people are diffrent yes but if medication helps them to be happy or from taking their own lives than who are you to say that it isnt right. I hope you suffer with depression and anxiety one day and call it minor suicide is one of the biggest causes of death for people under 44 it is double the road toll and there needs to be more money, time and effort spent on it

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      04:25pm | 11/01/11

      The Mental-Health issue has blown up because the treatments for cure and successful alleviation is has been ineffective.
      Psychiatry and to a lesser extent psychology are sciences, not an art, yet too many Doctors are writing books about the ‘myths and symbols of the Mind.’
      (S. Freud, generally, is bunkum. Doctors aren’t trained in Art and its symbols, so it’s back to the test-tubes)
      Not enough research is being conducted by these professionals into causes, effects and treatments.
      Clinical psychiatry, especially, is very lucrative, and so is writing half-baked books like ‘The Kiss… its Imagery and Meaning’. (Another doctor and another book.)
      Medical graduates should be discouraged from private practice, and instead be given their marching orders to the Lab. and start ‘sciencing’.
      Research, and lots of it.

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      05:16pm | 11/01/11

      Good article Tory,
      Just look for the “Marketing of Madness” DVD.
      And Stephen, for the record, psychiatry is a belief system, not a science.
      Psychoanalysis is an art.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      05:54pm | 11/01/11

      Bullshit.
      Symbols, meaning, image come from language and its empiricals, which docs. are not trained for.
      Beliefs systems are for Priests.

    • Julia says:

      05:45pm | 11/01/11

      Have degrees in Psychology & Welfare. Believe my lecturer & also from observation that counselling on its’ own may work for mental health issues but sure as Hell drugs on their own, without quality counselling are very unlikely to - mainly because they do not change the circumstances etc which helped trigger the problem. So what do we get - every GP with a prescription pad prescribing antidepressants. Some do care about and understand mental health issues but many believe the reps & blithely hand over the script and on to the next patient.

      Reply

    • The Liberal Loafer says:

      06:17pm | 11/01/11

      read Thomas Szasz on Mental Health Issues.
      As a Labor stooge, I don’t usually praise Tories .
      Tory is always human perfection with excellence in mind,personality and beauty.

      Reply

    • True Believer says:

      07:46pm | 11/01/11

      I am really impressed by the quality, sensitivity and understanding of many of the posts on here. I makes my heart glad to see we have people who have the humanity to try to understand and have compassion for those who suffer severe mental illness.

      There are also very distressing posts by sufferers and my heart goes out to them having walked with many sufferers through their mental pain, isolation and feelings of hopelessness.  In my State anyway there needs to be an improvement in services.  At the coalface are often wonderful people who work hard to assist people in their struggle against these illnesses, sadly often behind them are departments of (often young) bureaucrats who lack knowledge, experience and compassion and they tend to be the policy makers.

      To the usual bunch of cynics and specialists in putting down anything not within their limited understanding please come out from under your cosy rocks and face reality. 

      One day it may be your loved one, your parent, your sibling, your friend, your child or even you. In the mean time I suggest you educate yourselves so that your contributions to these vitally important areas can be positive not nonsense.

      Reply

    • Reasonable says:

      09:29pm | 11/01/11

      I have a sibling who has suffered from a mental illness for over 15 years.
      The health services have never been able to help due to her ‘right’ to not accept treatment.

      After 10 years of not being medicated; having several children who have never been properly cared for and an abusive husband (who is also mentally ill), I have finally seen her recently recieve some care in the public system -  but only after DoCS removed the children (probably never to be returned) and the health of a parent became imperitive to closing a new case. Years of reports to mental health teams, family interventions and police intervention have done nothing.

      The experience has been devastating to our family - cost thousands of dollars in legal bills; uprooted family members who are required to travel around the country to assist with care of the children and my sibling as well as the anguish associated with seeing someone completely disabled by a mental illness.

      My sibling has been a constant drain on social services; never able to work once off medication and in trouble more times than I can count.

      The hard realisation I have made was that I feel that this person would have been better off placed in an institution than live the life they have been enabled through their rights for freedom.
      By providing freedom, we have damaged a person beyond repair by not providing the care they need and removed the freedom of those friends and family who have anguished over the inability to be able to affect the situation.

      For serious mental health patients, there is never enough care available. For their families; there is no support and little intervention until it is too late.

      How many people go to sleep at night wondering what harm their mentally ill family member will go through in their mental state when they can’t be there to help them? Or worse; spend their lives wondering if they will get a phonecall advising them that they have died in tragic circumstances that could have been avoided with the correct care?

      The mental health arena needs carefully selected professionals and a lot of funding. Medication, politics, qualifications and couselling are all good discussions to have, but we need to start with the most serious problems first.

      Reply

    • neil says:

      10:44pm | 11/01/11

      “We need to keep the bigger issues in mind”

      I’m sorry, what you seem to think as big I perceive as trivial.

      BIG: New dams, new power stations, nuclear power. global conflict, terrorism, Population growth.

      TRIVIAL: Gay marrige, Whaling, Global poverty, Mental health, Global climate warming change or what ever it’s called this week.

      Get with the program people.

      Reply

    • DanieL says:

      08:33am | 12/01/11

      Interesting to see what you think are trivial matters. Different things are more important to different people but that does not mean that they should not be tackled.

    • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

      12:27am | 12/01/11

      Hi there,

      I truly believe that most people in our community need to have a sense of belonging and emotional connectionon with others.  Being social and part of a community makes us feel loved and appreciated.  Acknowledging the fact that “as human beings we do need a network of friends and family”.  And most importantly not to feel isolated and alone.  And being an expert in a field does not make us experts in other´s lives and expectations.

      Our self image and confidence are very important factors, when it comes to our troubles in life.  Right now, there is far too much emphasis on using the right medication, which happens to be the “anti depressants”.  But how much do we actually know about these medications?? And how come our ancestors did not suffer from so called “depression”.  We need to acknowledge the fact that we happen to be social beings and thrive on that.

      To me I would much rather tell my problems to a close friend,  than a so called specialist who knows absolutely nothing about me.  When we make social connections and feel loved & appreciated, thoughts of loneliness and isolation will not even exist.  We just have to believe that we have to feel obligated to help those in our community who seem a bit lost and alone.  Best regards to your editors.

      Reply

    • Tom O'keeffe says:

      09:11am | 12/01/11

      You actually think people never suffered from depression before.
      I came from a close knit family in a small country town. I suffered from clinical depression, the type that meant I physically could not get out of bed. Muscle aches, fever, night terrors etc.
      My family is the reason I am doing okay. So yes family and connections are paramount, without my family I would be dead (please remember depression is sometimes fatal).
      However to suggest that depression is a social problem rather than an illness is reckless.
      The drugs saved my life in the short term, family gave me the support to regain my health.
      This anti drug thing is silly, drugs save lives.
      Family and love helps you stay alive.

    • Gandalf says:

      02:15am | 12/01/11

      Name one psychiatric illness that has anything resembling a scientifically measured cause connected to it. We need to look at the USA to see what this industry of witchcraft will do here. All psychiatric diagnoses are based on a computer program named SPSS. Its a similar program to the one your bookie uses to work out the odds. There is nothing scientific about statistical probabilities and that is their only basis for all those interesting drugs they feed our kids.
      My border collie licks everything too and i just put that down to him being a border collie.

      Reply

    • Cloud Strife says:

      08:22am | 12/01/11

      Is that what Xenu told you?

    • stephen says:

      12:13pm | 12/01/11

      It is not the causes of illnesses that will rely on science, but the treatment. (And forget statistics, as they are the perfect generalization.)
      Whilst the human factor in diagnosis is imperative, science and technology and its researchers have the best chance determining the correct line of treatment. I’m not advocating, neccessarily, drug treatments, but if the effects of a mental illness are so severe and distinctive as claimed, there then must be a physical symptom, one that can be alleviated by the commonly accepted notions of ‘cause and effect’.

    • Dr A Lajoie says:

      03:29am | 12/01/11

      We all agree mental problems are comment in our society.  In most case, the problem starts within the person and he/she doesn’t or can’t ‘snap’ out of it.
      That’s when it is time to help.  Evidently, the pharmaceutical Co will produce a drug to improve well-being, knowing the problem is within…not due to a lack of drugs.  It is a GOLD mine to drug Co to treat mental illness as a disease and place people on drugs forever.
      Stress, by definition, is the lack of ability of the body to ADAPT to the environment.  Not lack of drugs!!

      Reply

    • David Falconer says:

      07:04am | 12/01/11

      I suffer from happiness. A large percentage of the world is united ,which in other contexts would be admirable, in efforts to eradicate this happiness. Should I suffer in silence or seek out others who share this condition? Perhaps if I were to explain my condition to others it would lead to understanding,or at least tolerance. Jesus is my only Saviour, He understands. He accepts me just as I am.  When there is so much going on all around what you focus on is most important.

      Reply

    • kev from taree says:

      09:31am | 12/01/11

      I’ve got a son with schizophrenia and he looks pretty normal to me.

      Reply

    • Kav says:

      09:32am | 12/01/11

      PD said earlier: Abnormal in terms of mental health=not happy, not having a positive outlook, not possessing good pressure coping strategies, not good at interpersonal relationships etc.>>

      So to be ‘normal apparently means being happy, positive, coping well and having good relationships. Being normal means ignoring that fact that people who are ‘not normal’ have a point. Life isn’t that great frankly. Life is a struggle for most people (damned awful in Toowoomba right now) yet we are fed the constant lie that being normal means never getting depressed, angry or confused about anything - it’s abmormal, because there is nothing for us to get depressed, angry or confused about, is there? Those who see the world with somewhat more clarity, are classed as having a mental illness. If I don’t have many friends, is it because I prefer not to hang out with ‘normal people’ who can’t crack open a bottle of anything without getting trashed, or because I have a mental illness that prevents me from socialising ‘normally’ by getting trashed with them?
      It seems to me that depression is the most ‘normal’ thing right now - I hardly know anyone who isn’t fed with their lives and who has doesn’t have a good reason to be that way. But they are always offered medication, not a solution to their mortgage, housing, employment and financial problems,  not any reassurance that what they are doing is the best they can do in God awful circumstances. Those who don’t fit the ‘normal’ template simply have no place in our society, and so are labeled with some acronym and .given no hope that things might change - they are the ones with the problem, take a pill and fit in.
      the courage of people who are ‘not normal’ never fails to astound me. They still find a reason to get up every morning, do what they can to make their families lives better, and find what happiness they can in a world that denies them even the right to the simplest things that make life worth living. But the despair is palpable. And those that give up and sink in to the morass - is that so surprising? But it’s Ok, take a pill, and they can convince themselves that their ‘chemical imbalance’ has been fixed. Life is still crap, but at least they are ‘normal’ now.
      I’m not taking a pill for my anger. I’m 64, and I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s justified.

      Reply

    • JB says:

      10:23am | 12/01/11

      “But it is not just the medications that are the problem – it’s the entire idea that anything slightly off the centre of the bell curve makes you wrong, somehow. Not normal.” I can agree on this point after being locked up for 3 months in Toowoomba because I attempted to report a sexual assault and threat and then held as I spoke of the abuse in the Catholic church - I guess that was seen as not being normal

      Reply

    • Luke says:

      11:26pm | 13/01/11

      “It’s difficult to have a serious debate on the over-prescription of drugs. Part of this is because Scientology has ripped much credibility out of the argument with their rigid opposition to any sort of medication”
      Scientology has acted as champions to those who risk thier careers speaking against mind altering medication.
      They havent removed credibility, they have given credible scholars a chance to speak out.

      Reply

    • Andre says:

      08:50pm | 07/02/12

      I’m not sure that the 8 or 9 hours of sleep is aabainttle when I’m on clinical rotations instead of research, though I keep striving for it:) And doing little things to get outside while it’s still warm is a great idea.The eating and exercise pieces are so hard… I used to be a competitive long distance runner, and so I find activities like yoga, walking, etc. incredibly boring… But getting started running again 15 pounds heavier and with all my old muscle gone is really difficult. I used to be able to run 2 hours at a good pace and feel fine at the end. Now, after 15 minutes of being passed by old ladies, I’m huffing and puffing… (Afterwards, I feel really good, though- like all my problems have been left behind on the trail, tired but in a good way, proud of myself)  I keep trying to set baby goals for myself- just run 10 minutes a few times a week, etc.  But it seems so pointless to go through all the changing, stretching and then showering to run for 10 minutes that I keep putting it off till the magical “tomorrow” that never comes. It would be easier to run if I dropped the excess weight that I’ve put on, but as long as I reward myself for each day with cheese puffs and a candy bar, that’s not going to be happening any time soon. I never used to understand how doctors could know all the health risks and still smoke, but I’m getting a better grasp on it now…

      Reply
 
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