World Mental Health Day

Happy world mental health day! Hope everyone is feeling healthy in body and mind. To celebrate, there has also been some fantastic news about the British government increasing funding to widen access to mental health services, in particular Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

The BBC coverage  of this story disappointed me though, due an emphasis on how much money the government can “save” by not having to pay out as much incapacity benefit for these malingerers. “Depression and anxiety… costs more in benefits than unemployment”. Surely the emphasis should be on how this can improve people’s lives rather than perpetuating negative stereotypes?

I live with depression. I have good days and bad days. To be more precise, it seems to go in phases of a few good months and a few bad months. This year July/early August was my worst time this year when I just felt down and couldn’t see the point of anything. In a weird way I’m used to it, I can shrug my shoulders and I just have to ride the wave knowing that this too shall pass. I still hate going to the doctor about it and try to avoid it if at all possible. It doesn’t matter how sympathetic the GP is (some make you feel like you’re a complete waste of space - like you don’t feel that way already when you’re depressed and it’s taken a mammoth effort just to get out of bed and to the surgery), but there is part of me that feels ashamed. On an intellectual level I know this is nonsense, and that depression is an illness, but it doesn’t seem to help me when I’m on that road. The only comfort I have when I’m in that place is knowing that I’ve come out the other side before and I can do it again.