Story from the Daily Mail below, I am all for anything that can help reduce the stigma of mental Illness. Having began my nursing career, my first placement was in a Psychiatric Hospital many years ago. Many of the patients had suffered some women had been locked up and sectioned by their families for having had an illegitimate child when a young girl and had been incascerated for so long they had become instituitionalised and were now unable to live in the out side world for they could not cope.
What they are saying basically is this, adversity makes us stronger and it does, it gives us the strength and ability to help others through what you have been through and anything that can help alleviate the suffering mental illness brings is worth while.
Cheer up! Depression could be good for you - sometimes it leaves you more resilient and creative
Eleven years ago, Helen McNallen suffered an episode of depression so severe she attempted to take her own life.
So it may seem extraordinary that the 43-year-old former city trader now devotes most of her time to running a website she has started up called
www.depressioncanbefun.com.
Despite the somewhat flippant name — designed to reduce stigma around the subject — it has the serious purpose of trying to help others cope in similar circumstances.
One in four people in the UK suffers with depression at some point in their lives. It costs Britain around £17billion in sick leave and lost productivity
She set it up because she is convinced that her mental health crisis, which was triggered by the pressures of her job, has, in the long-run, transformed her life for the better.
‘I’m glad I had depression,’ says Helen, from Sheffield in South Yorkshire.
‘At one time, I thought I would be working in the City of London for the rest of my days, even though it was incredibly stressful and I was very unhappy.
‘Now, I feel very lucky to be able to spend my time helping other people. It was a turning point in my life.’
Depression has become something of a modern-day epidemic.
One in four people in the UK suffers with it at some point in their lives and GPs now issue record numbers of prescriptions for anti-depressants — more than 30 million a year. Economists say it costs Britain around £17 billion in sick leave and lost productivity.
Causes range from having a family history of the problem or suffering a major trauma, to chronic stress and money worries.
But now some experts are arguing that these negative effects of Britain’s depression ‘crisis’ hide the fact that, for some people like Helen, it can be a positive life-changing experience that leaves them tougher, more resilient and more creative.
Some even argue that depression may not be an illness at all, but an evolutionary survival mechanism that helps us cope with life’s crises by forcing us to reassess our priorities.
‘Nobody would choose to have depression because it can be a really unpleasant experience,’ says Dr Paul Keedwell, a psychologist and psychiatrist based at Cardiff University.
‘But you have to wonder why it is such a common condition and why it has not been bred out through evolution. Perhaps it’s because we need something that makes us put the brakes on every now and then and reassess our goals and strategies.
‘We need to meet our own needs in order to thrive and be loved and be part of a social group. Sometimes we can learn to do that through the pain of depression.’
Some argue depression helps us cope with life's crises by forcing us to reassess our priorities
This controversial idea, that depression might do some of us good in the long run, is backed up by a recent study carried out in the Netherlands.
It analysed the effects of depression on 165 people by looking at how well they coped with life’s stresses and strains before and after their mental breakdown. The researchers expected to find patients were left chronically disabled by their experience, struggling to cope in their domestic and working lives.
In fact, the majority had more vitality, improved social lives and were performing better at work.
The evolutionary theory raises another key question — are too many people with mild to moderate depression being encouraged to rely on antidepressants to make them feel better, rather than confront the issues underlying their mental state and become stronger as a result?
Moreover, Professor Peter Kinderman, a member of the British Psychological Society, says mild to moderate depression can have a positive effect and should not be regarded as a medical complaint but a normal reaction to life’s ups and downs.
‘We know that when someone is profoundly depressed it is completely different from their normal state of being,’ he says. ‘But that does not mean it’s abnormal. It’s part of being alive.’
But if suffering mental health problems really can be beneficial, experts agree it’s only likely to apply to those with mild to moderate depression — the majority of cases.
Where the cause is fairly obvious — such as bereavement or relationship break-up — it can act as a catalyst to re-evaluate what is important in life.
‘For example, if you don’t get the grades at university you might get upset and that’s completely normal,’ Professor Kinderman says.
‘Then you reflect on the choices and mistakes you made and you come out of it with a different sense of motivation. We need this evolutionary system to allow us to cope with rejection and disappointment, and the normal ups and downs of life.’
But when there is no apparent reason for a slump in mental wellbeing, it’s much less likely to have any benefit.
This is a state of mind that doctors call anhedonia: the kind of clinical depression where things that used to bring great joy — prized possessions, favourite places and loving relationships — no longer do.
When sufferers fall this low, it can be hard for them to focus on the problems that have caused their decline, or make changes that might get them out of it.
Helen had been struggling with stress at work as a high-flying City trader for several years before she finally broke down and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
‘It had been coming on for a while,’ says Helen, who has no children and is separated from her husband.
‘I was very unhappy in my job, but kept going. I refused to stop work because I’d have been seen as a failure.
‘I became very withdrawn and wanted to be on my own all the time. I stayed in bed for whole weekends and felt I wanted to die. It went on for two years before I suffered a breakdown. I tried to commit suicide by jumping off a building. But I’d also swallowed huge quantities of Valium and passed out on the roof. I woke up in hospital and ended up in a psychiatric unit for three months on suicide watch.’
Helen was treated with a range of anti-depressants, counselling and even electric shock therapy, with mixed results. Over five years or so, she abandoned them all for her own regime of healthy eating, regular exercise and frequent laughter — hence the website.
She works with the NHS on providing support for depression sufferers, is training to be a mental health counsellor and has more than 125,000 registered users on her website.
Helen believes depression made her stronger, by teaching her not to be afraid to seek help when she really needs it and to place more emphasis on quality of life, rather material wealth.
‘Once I realised there was a reason for how I was feeling, I knew I could do something about it.’
But Dr Eva Cyhlarova, head of research at the Mental Health Foundation, cautions against deliberately allowing depressive symptoms to worsen in the hope of it doing some good.
‘People should not wait until they have a diagnosis of mild depression before doing something about it. Instead, they should try to recognise the symptoms of stress, anxiety or depression early on and take steps to address the problem before it deteriorates.
‘These steps might include taking more exercise, eating more healthily, talking to a friend or family member or addressing any concerns with work or personal relationships.’
Marjorie Wallace, founder of the mental health charity SANE, says depression is a form of ‘malignant sadness’ that can be ‘agonising and destructive’.
‘Everybody experiences sadness. But there comes a point where that becomes malignant. That’s when it becomes an illness and can be dangerous.
‘But for some people, depression can be a wake-up call. They peer over the edge and say to themselves “I can’t give in to this — I have got to survive.” That’s the point where they accept they have depression and seek help.’
Maggie Brown (Author)
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