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April 20, 2010

Campaign over mental health stigma

Campaign over mental health stigma


Mental Health Minister John Moloney and broadcaster Eileen Dunne at the launch of the See Change Mental Health stigma reduction partnership at The Mansion House in Dublin

 

Thursday April 15 2010

Many mental health sufferers are seen solely in terms of their illness regardless of the contribution they make to society, a minister has said.

John Moloney said it was time to tackle the stigma experienced by patients who lack a voice.

The junior health minister was launching a two-year nationwide campaign to help change perceptions of mental health problems.

"Stigma has no place in Irish society today," Mr Moloney said. "It damages people's lives and can be deeply hurtful and isolating, and is one of the most significant problems encountered by people with mental health problems.

"Learning to live with mental health problems is extremely difficult, but this difficulty can be compounded when someone experiences, at first hand, the prejudice caused by stigma. "It can also be distressing for the families and friends of those persons."

The Sea Change initiative will run for at least two years.

It is hoped that by the end of that period people with mental health problems will find it easier to participate as valued members of society, with access to meaningful employment, appropriate housing and positive interpersonal relationships.

National and local organisations across the country will carry the anti-stigma message through local broadcasts, local print media and a range of other activities.

Mr Moloney, who has responsibility for disability and mental health, said those suffering from mental health problems lack a voice to tackle discrimination.

"People with mental health problems are often seen solely in terms of their health problems and are labelled by it, regardless of their overall contribution to society," the minister said. "But what perhaps singles out the stigmatisation of these people from other potentially marginalised groups is the lack of voice that they often have in fighting against discrimination. I firmly believe that the time has come to take up the challenge and tackle this negativity and deliver action."



Added on April 20, 2010 3 Comments

Comments

 

there is not enough done in this country,to promote mental health and support familys of mental health illness, this can be like a time bomb event in many peoples lifes, and unfortunately we feel we are often left to walk alone


 

comment #1 by bipolarawaremental health , on April 24, 2010 at 11:41 a.m.:

 

I have had to survive mostly alone in iosolation for 9 years in Ireland while suffering from anxiety and depression. The drugs are not nearly enough. I was not given any information from doctors when I asked about possible support groups or help. After years of great struggling I got worse so now I'm on different and stronger drugs. These drugs cost the state a fortune. Wouldn't it make more sense to have supports in place to get people better so that we can be active and work and stop claiming benefits? Everyone needs to feel of use to the community and part of a community. I don't want to be sick for the rest of my life. And psychiatrists refuse to listen to the side effects drugs have on people..they only have time for yes or no answers. We want to be well but the longer we are left alone the harder it becomes to fight and survive and then we feel powerless and hopeless because there is no sign of light at the ned of the tunnel we have been left in year in year out. I want my life back; my mind,wellbeing, my heart.I can't hold out living at deaths door any longer.


 

comment #2 by Teresa McGuirk , on June 11, 2010 at 6:51 p.m.:

 

Dear Teresa,

Yes, drugs alone can never be enough.

Counselling - sometimes in the form of merely very, VERY attentively listening to the person involved may be all that is required to help that person give words and voice to their perception and understanding of their deepest problems and, by expression, catharsis and rapid relief.

Deep down, of course, we all know the origins of our problems, adn the remedies, too

If you have not yet sought spiritual guidance for your underlying life issues, the things which brought about this anxiety state, then may I please suggest that you read any or all of the three following books by Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks, A New Earth, The Power of Now. Near the beginning of the last of these, Eckhart very movingly describes his own eventual awakening from his intensely anxious first 29 or so years. Reading that alone, Teresa, may be all you need!

You may like to contact the Irish healer, Eamonn Kerr, who lives in Virginia, Co. Cavan - or did in 2008, anyway.

Please feel very, VERY welcome to contact me, too, at twinsoul@cox.net or, phoning from Ireland, at 001 760 291 7066 at ANY time at all, as I would be more than delighted to chat with you about all this, possibly to the benefit of many of our countrymen and women, once we get our heads together, as you very obviously ahev a tremendous insight into some of the most significant deficiencies of modern pharmacopsychiatry as practised in Ireland.

My VERY warmest wishes.

Tom Kelly, previously of Donegal, now of
"Inatosha,"
965, Luna Vista Drive,
Escondido,
CA 92025,
USA.


 

comment #3 by Tom Kelly , on September 13, 2010 at 9:10 a.m.:

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