Live Webchat with Ruby Wax - Thursday 12th May 1.30 - 2.30 pm

[RachelMumsnet]

We're delighted that Ruby Wax is joining us for a live webchat on Thursday 12th May between 1.30-2.30pm. Ruby's theatre show Losing It is currently running at Menier Chocolate Factory in London. In the show Ruby explores the ups and downs of mental illness and draws on her own experience of depression to create a show which is described as 'incredibly brave and heartbreakingly funny' (Harry Enfield). The theatre show ends with a Q&A session which gives members of the audience a chance to share their own experiences and there are weekly Forums with leading mental health experts. Ruby is a trained psychotherapist and is currently studying for a MSt in Mindfulness at Oxford University. Along with Stephen Fry, she is an ambassador for the campaign, Time To Change which was launched to coincide with a survey that found one in three people admitted they would find it hard to tell others if they had mental health problems.

Ruby moved the UK to study drama in Glasgow and worked as an actress before she turned to comedy. She has appeared on numerous TV shows including her own chat shows; 'The Full Wax' and 'Ruby Wax Presents' (remember Imelda Marcos' shoes?) She was also Script Editor for Ab Fab and is a big supporter of Comic Relief having taken part in Celebrity Fame Academy, Comic Relief does the Apprentice and Masterchef at Number 10, where earlier this year the PM enjoyed her crab salad) She also runs her own Leadership consultancy and Coaching company, Ruby Wax.

Join us on Thursday at 1pm or send a question in advance to Ruby and you'll be entered into a draw to win a pair of tickets to see 'Losing It' between now and 18th June.

Ooh I love her. Never ever had a question directly answered but here goes

Ruby - I saw you on "Something for the weekend" a while ago where you talked very openly about your mental health problems, my husband turned to me and said "isn't it great that mental health problems don't have as much of a stigma as they used to" and he's right. I had very bad PND when I had my youngest child, (11 years ago)so much so that I was almost hospitalised, I think though the depression goes back to when i was 16 when my dad died. I've always wanted to try and help women with PND but there still seems to be cases where they are embarassed to tell anyone

Anyway I'm waffling, what I wanted to ask was " have you noticed an increase in people having mental health or depression, because they are more open about it, or do you think that the illness is more prevalent as it was due to modern lifestyles, and so more people mention it.?

I am of the opinion that we are predisposed to having depression, would you agree ?
Did that make sense
Loved the show with Imelda Marcos BTW

Hello Ruby, I enoyed hearing you on Radio 4 last year on the chain interview programme. Never realised you were a long-running wench/spear carrier for the RSC. And flat-sharing with Alan Rickman

Anyhoo, my question is: What has drawn you back to the stage and has it been like putting on a favourite pair of old shoes? Good luck with the run

Hi Ruby,

I am hoping you can help me with something, as a previous depression sufferer I wonder if you would mind me asking you something, my mum has recently suffered depression .. my question is what is the best thing I can do apart from just "be there" for her? Is there anything that I can do that will help her with a speedier recovery? Thank you & hope you are well xx

Hi Ruby,

I am a huge fan of yours and I think you are such a great role model for girls. My question is to you as a parent: how do you try and prepare your kids for adult life ? and are your kids interested in being 'slebs' and all that? if so, how do you address that?

thanks

Dear Ruby,
brave off you to come on here :)
I find you incredibly funny, especially seeing you on the apprentice after show last year had me in stiches.
my question, I have cared for (well only a little to give my mother respite) my grandmother who had various mental health issues as well as beeing very disabled. I found it incredibly hard, don*t know how my mother could cope with it at all.
what would you advise relatives, carers to do to cope with the verbal/physical abuse that sometimes is part of caring for mentally ill people?

Hi Ruby..
I met you a few years back when we did the BBC video on Agoraphobia. Just wanted you to know that since we made that video i made more progress in my battle with the illness. The park where we went to, i now do freely with my boyfriend and regularly take walks over there.

Thank you again for highlighting this problem,
Sarah x

Dear Ruby: Fruit Shoots, sausage rolls, and loose grapes - opinions please?

Oh, and fave biscuit, of course!

(Referring to our ageing bodies, you once said something along the lines of "when I lie down my boobs flee for refuge in my armpits". So true And I think the key to mental equilibrium regarding ageing, ie to not being depressed by it, is to (a) still find said boobs attractive no matter their location, and (b) to be able to laugh at the voyaging bosom.)

Wow, Ruby, I think you are fab.
I'd love to read your version of a self-help/therapy book. Any plans?

As a mother of small children, I feel so responsible when my children feel sad and struggle if i can't 'solve' it immediately - I do try to remember to let them have their emotions and help them manage them. In theory. Do you think this guilt is part of being a mother (parent) or do you find we can learn to let them make their own mistakes?

Hi Ruby,
We all take a huge step forward with the public perception of mental health issues when funny lovely people who are in the limelight are prepared to stand up and say "this has effected me too"

I suffer with mental health issues, I have ptsd and subsequent depression that has been caused by continuous reliving of events. It is at times a nightmare trying to be a balanced mother of 2 small children and take care of my fragile mental health.

I have been hugely lucky, I have a great GP who pressed the panic button for me and managed to get me psychiatric support and yet in makes me so sad to hear and see with friends where the support network isn't there. (and the money isn't necessarily there to fill the void)

I am told regularly that if I had a broken ankle I wouldn't be shy about my ailment in public, a bad thing happened to me, I am the victim not the dangerous person, and yet how doesn't it feel like that.

With your amazing humour it would be great if you felt you could share with us a witty quip to use when faced with fearful or negative responses to our various mental health issues.

(sorry for the essay, if you haven't fallen asleep, would just like to add that your humour totally tickles my funnybone)

I don't really have a question for you, Ruby. But I just want to say that you are bloody brilliant .

hi ruby...another fan here!

i suffer quietly with depression on and off. i do have a very smily outer face/mask, which bloody annoys me sometimes. i really want to tell it as it is, but just can't. anyway.....my question!

if you can feel yourself "slipping down" within yourself, or feel your mood lowering, do you have or do something that helps you in the short term?

i think its great what you're doing.

cheers!

hi ruby i was wondering if u thought that laughter really is the best medicine, i found that when i had my son i was very down i won't say depressed as i don't feel i was but i found that keeping a sense of humour helped lift me out of the fog a little and wondered if u felt the same. x

Hello Ruby,
I Have depression, have done for years and have now accepted it as part of my life. I Personally don't think ill ever be 'cured' but just learn to deal with it. I Don't know if that's the case with all depression sufferers and wondered what your view on it is?

I need regular counselling at least once a month to live with my depression. I Am scared stiff as I am due my second baby in 6 weeks and wonder what effect this will have on me.

anyway love your work, keep smiling.

Xx

I didn't realise you were a coach/trainer as well - I am in awe of your talents.

What was the MasterChef thing like? And what did David Cameron really say/do?!

Hi Ruby

It there was just one piece of advice you would give to someone suffering from depression what would it be?

many thanks

Issy
XXX

Dear Ruby
Sorry that I'll miss you tomorrow as I'll be at work, and wanted to ask about your show. Can you tell us more about the show and what kind of responses you are getting from the audience? I can imagine that it would be difficult to get us repressed Brits to open up- the complete opposite of what we normally do when it comes to mental health.... I'm really intrigued by it. Do some people just get freaked out by the whole thing and run away?

Hello Ruby,

A few years ago you went on a trek and lived alone in the jungle for a few days. (Your eyes puffed up and you took an inflatable lobster with you).

Has the experience helped you in any way when you have suffered depression, as in 'safe place' or stillness?

Thank you.

Ruby
Welcome to MN.

I have several relatives who suffer from MH issues. One relative lives in Germany and has reasonable support. The other relative lives in Scotland and she (or rather her husband and carer) has to fight for every single crumb of assistance. She has bipolar disorder and has already "run away" from her family several times, living rough until she is found and brought home. She has been admitted to hospital, then sent home despite the high risk that she will immediately disappear again.

What is the one thing, in your opinion, that would really help people like her?

Would it be change in public perception of MH issues, or more money to be made available to the support services?

And in the days of Austerity Measures and cuts, how much less support is someone like my relative likely to get?

at my shallow question compared with those of other posters.

BIWI
I only asked a serious question because you had already asked the one I wanted to know the answer to. What was DC really like?

I wanted to ask if Robbie Coltraine was a good snog, BIWI, but managed to avoid asking.

I loved your autobiography, I read it until the covers fell off! Honest autobiographies are rare. Honest writing is rare! So thanks for that and I like other posters wondered if you were writing or planning to write further books, whether relating to your involvement in mental health or fiction - or something else entirely?

Hi Ruby and welcome to mumsnet.
I am in the early stages of training as a therapist, (at Regents College btw)
How did you find the training? I wondered if the comic part of your personality comes into the therapy room or have you had to work hard to not be funny when it comes to being a therapist?

Hi Ruby

who is the funniest person you have ever met?