Last week I really did start to think that I was feeling much better. The medication was taking effect and feeling positive about the weeks ahead. Last Saturday I was great, feeling happy and content. I thought hey, me and the medication have started to crack this invisible monster!
This week has been difficult and reflecting on it I should have been more prepared. My Nana passed away 2 years ago and I am only now able to grieve. It would have been her birthday yesterday. Add a bunch of hormones to that and you guessed it, an emotional ticking time bomb. Trying not to be to hard on yourself while the invisible monster is telling you that you are not holding it together.
How can your friends and family put up with this? Having a short fuse and hermit tendencies; where do they get all their patience and understanding from? It must be love right? I'm lucky to have the support I have. My husband, sister, parents and friends have been a constant stability. So even in my darkest and loneliest days, i'm not really alone. Over the years having the opportunity to be supported on a personal level and professional support. Sadly not everyone gets the support they need. Some can have all the money to pay for private treatment and still not succeed in fighting depression. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a world where mental health was excepted like other illnesses? Where everyone is given a fair chance to fight.
Mental Health Foundations facts and figures around Mental Health are alarming.
- About a quarter of the population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, with mixed anxiety and depression the most common mental disorder in Britain
- Women are more likely to have been treated for a mental health problem than men and about ten percent of children have a mental health problem at any one time
- Suicides rates show that British men are three times as likely to die by suicide than British women and self-harm statistics for the UK show one of the highest rates in Europe: 400 per 100,000 population
So why is mental health not a priority? Why does it take up to a month to access professional support? The Samaritans offer mental health support 24/7, 365 days of the year. What a marvelous job they do. What if we made mental health even more accessible. What if we had walk in centres? Supported by trained professionals that offer security, a place of sanctuary, where you would not be judge but listened to and understood. Knowing when times get tough there is a place you can go. With extra support from established charities Samaritans and Mind less loved ones would be lost suicide. More opportunities to get help in that time of crisis, locally. Mental health support in every school and workplace. It might be a dream but a dream is better than no dreams at all.
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