Mental health and the fashion to talk about it

[catinboots123]

It's all the rage. Harry, Oprah, Roman Kemp - and every other celebrity. Crying and whining on various doccos.

Yes it's great that it's no longer stigmatised. But at the end of the day it's your personal health!

Who really cares outside your own immediate family? Would it be as lauded if zelebs got a show and wanged on about bowel issues or arthritis or whatever.

All seems a bit self indulgent to me. My private, personal medical issues are exactly that - private and personal.

Some of them have talked about other conditions and maybe encouraged people to see a GP because of it.

The difference with MH is that, however much it’s talked about and however hard we try, there’s still such a stigma attached to it. I lost a job because I spoke of it.

Okay, and that is fine. For you, talking about your private, personal internal life is private.

It feels a bit "belittele-y" (made up word) of you to call the push to de-stigmatise mental health issues a fashion.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

And people like you are the reason it isn’t spoken about enough.

Who really cares about anything about a celebrity's life? Baffling to me but then lots of people do seem to be interested, including interest in irrelevant and far more trivial matters like who these people they have never met are dating or what they wear.

In general it is a very healthy thing that mental health is spoken about much more these days. It is not "indulgent" to do so.

@Foxyloxy1plus1 I'm so sorry to hear that - but surely losing a job over a health issue - you must have some leverage? A right to appeal? Maybe I'm naive

@Gilead

And people like you are the reason it isn’t spoken about enough.

Why does it need to be spoken about though so much? When I broke my leg a few years ago and needed 6 months off work - I didn't need to speak about it. I didn't need a light shining on it.

No, because it was done in such a way that it could never be proven.

No longer stigmatised? You’re having a laugh.

When you broke your leg OP were you labelled as:

Manipulative
Unstable
A liar
Conniving
Malingering
An unfit parent
We’re you held in a hospital against your will?
Did people avoid you?
Tell you to pull yourself together?
Pass you around dept after dept after dept with little to no help?

We’re you told to take a bubble bath to make it better?

We’re you inspected closely under a microscope, pulled apart, judged for every action as being some sort of nefarious plan?

We’re you told you didn’t know how to communicate?

Or that you were incapable of forming relationships?

Did it affect your ability to secure a tenancy?

Did you lose your job, you friends, your children?

We’re you told you were beyond help.

LaLaLandIsNoFun I am so sorry.

I think we are miles from mh issues not being stigmatized.

Celebs with their money will have more treatment options because of their income but it's still all consuming and horrible to have those issues. There will be as many people abusing them over the revelations as supporting them plus don't forget that a lot of online support on Twitter etc are paid to post positive comments

I know where you are coming from OP, because I was like that to. I found people on phased returns to work lazy. I thought they were skivers. I wondered how can someone still go on holiday when they can't work.
I would still maintain that a small minority of them were taking the piss out of my employer's generous sick pay policy, but having myself had to have three months off with stress, I wish I had been able to talk more to people before I was bawling my eyes out driving to work every day. I wish the symptoms had been noticed by my manager and I thank God that on the day I finally broke down in the GP's surgery, it was the lovely female doctor on duty and not the arsehole man.

I can say with experience, you don't know what it's like until you've been through it.

I think the more people talk about health conditions, especially ones which still carry a stigma, the better.

My mental health is shocking at the moment, and even though my default may be not to talk (which I know isn’t healthy!) knowing other people have felt similar is reassuring in a “your not alone” type way.

It’s about getting conversations started, take Davinas show about menopause last week because of that people spoke about the issue when maybe they wouldn’t have before, that discussion will have given some people more hope, given some people the push needed to ask for help.

We can’t push health under the carpet

@LaLaLandIsNoFun I'm so sorry that was your experience.

But yes several of the things on your list applied to me.

"Why does it need to be spoken about though so much? When I broke my leg a few years ago and needed 6 months off work - I didn't need to speak about it. I didn't need a light shining on it."
Because people still don't believe it exists. People still think it's 'being lazy' or that people are faking it. And that's not even going on to the more stigmatised disorders like schizophrenia.

Just because you understand, doesn't mean everyone does. And people do talk about other health issues. I've seen people talk about getting prostate exams and smear tests, other things that many put off but can save a life.

Its still very much stigmatised. I haven't seen the celebs you've mentioned talking about it but there's no way I'm ready to be publicly open about serious mental health issues.

It feels a bit "belittele-y" (made up word) of you to call the push to de-stigmatise mental health issues a fashion.

It isn't really about mental health though. None of the mental health conversations seem to include conditions such as autism, ticks, diagnosed anxiety, Bipolar, Paranoia, Eating disorders, psychosis, Schizophrenia etc. I mean, are Harry, Oprah et al encouraging people with symptoms that are part of the above listed conditions to go and chat to all and sundry about their horrendous struggles 'mental health'? Because if they did, it would be quite irresponsible. Can you imagine, opening up to people who are not trained in dealing with mental illness with talk about abuse, cutting, suicide and hard core symptoms and behaviours and not getting a supportive response. It could actually discourage patients from seeking medical help and make the situation worse.

No, when Harry, Meghan, Oprah or any other celebrities mention mental health they seem to refer to privileged people's usual life struggles and mild to moderate life traumas.

It's incredibly shallow, presumptuous and rather like Emperor's new clothes all over again.

I think long term chronic mental illness,s are still very much stigmatised such as schizophrenia ,scizoaffecrice disorders, Bipolar disorders everybody talk ,s about mental health these days nobody wants to talk about severe ,and or chronic mental illness.

There's too much labelling of normal emotions/ distress as mental health problems. As a mental health nurse I find it insulting to people with severe and enduring mental illness. We all have tough times in life, feeling sad and unhappy as a reaction is normal and nothing like a severe episode of depression.

They're never proper discussions about mental health though. It's more about emotional wellbeing. Discussions never involve schizophrenia, self harm, self neglect, suicide, personality disorders etc. Never the mucky, serious, hard-core stuff that sufferers never talk about for fear of judgement.

Vacuous slebs moaning about being triggered because their latte didn't turn out as expected aren't doing real mental health disorders any favours, in fact the opposite. People are so sick of hearing about mental health that they'd roll their eyes if you did try to mention anything about your own struggles.

@dottycat123, I do so agree.

We pathologise normal life experiences, we need to normalise the fact that extreme emotions and feelings are part of life experience, sad awful things happen and talking about them can help.
On the other hand I agree with what a number of you have said that many mental health conditions aren't mentioned. I have family members with schizophrenia it's life changing ,for example my brother in his 40s ( has schizophrenia )has never
worked has been in and out of hospital , lives in supported accommodation is incredibly paranoid and is an alcoholic . His life and other family members are framed by their illness . Where are the discussions about them, my brother is difficult, paranoid and is far from a poster boy for let's talk about it to make it all better. Where is he and others like him in these conversations?

Agree absolutely, most of it is chat about "mental health lite". I see the Kemp sons thing was about his friend who took his own life, so not actually him, its much easier to be open about it when its not you.

Remember the disbelief MMarkle got for saying she wanted to harm herself and had suicidal thoughts?

I do remember when Diana opened up about her bulimia feeling a bit validated because it was actually about her and very brave to be open about it. Also Jesy Nelson and her struggles. Thats the kind of thing IMO that makes the rest of us feel its not weird.

I would like one day to be able to be open about my serious mental health struggles but don't see it happening any time soon. I feel ok about the eating disorder thing so think the stigma isn't there for that any more so much, its become more accepted.

@MandrakePop and @bellropes thank you foe bringing to the thread all the other array of MH disorders that we/I tend not to consider. Yes anxiety and depression are real issues - for many, many of us including celebs. But these other conditions don't seem to get the same attention?

Yep I agree @feelingdizzy I used to be a mental health nurse and have sadly known many people like your brother ,it does a great disservice to your brother and many like him to ignore this side of mental illness.