The Blue Monday Thread

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: No quitten we're whelan on to chitchat 11.

kollegeknight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106464#Comment_120106464

That and suicides. Mental health issues are through the roof.

I’ve been to 4 suicide funerals of 30-50yo men in the last 3 weeks. January could do with ending.

patsy_mccabe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120109982#Comment_120109982

Jeez, that's a lot.

Reggie.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120110779#Comment_120110779

You could see it coming really with the lockdowns and the after affects

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120109982#Comment_120109982

Depression is a massive problem across all of Ireland and there doesn't seem to be much happening to help deal with it, even though there's plenty of people talking about it.

148multi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111248#Comment_120111248

It's a can that's just kicked down the road, unless someone in authority is looking out for you.

farawaygrass

is it a less of a problem in any country in the modern western world I wonder?

sometimes Ireland comes in for a bashing when the same problems seem to exist at the same level in other countries. It’s a delicate subject and I don’t mean to cause any offence. Luckily I haven’t had to deal with any of the services involved with mental health so maybe I am a bit ignorant.

it’s just I see some people on social media regularly post on how Ireland is a Kip etc and it irritates me a bit. Not for a second am I saying we are perfect but I often ask people what country would they like Ireland to model themselves on and I never really get an answer.

tbh it seems Europe and the whole western world is in the middle of a massive social and ethnic change and why is it happening, I don’t know. I think Ireland is as good as anywhere to live really, as bureaucracy and a bigger social welfare tendency seem to be everywhere, unfortunately.

I went off on a bit of a tangent there maybe 🙈

Neddyusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111634#Comment_120111634

Sure Ireland has a lot of positives going for it.

I think it's also true to say that our true standard of living is declining.

The current generation of children will be the first in almost a century to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Diet and exercise among many other social factors play a part in this, but you should certainly count yourself lucky if you or your family haven't needed any help from mental health services.

Mental health is really the hind tit of health services in Ireland, and that's saying something.

Suckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111634#Comment_120111634

Ireland is not perfect but I think you're spot on in reference to the 'Ireland is a kip' social media has made more obvious. Used to be confined to gobsh1tes you'd bump in to and could tune out but it's easier to blather on Fbook/Boards etc. about how bad we have it.

"Only in Ireland"......

"The most corrupt country" .....

99.999% of them have very little frame of reference.

funkey_monkey

If you get cancer you turn up at hospital and they cut it out. Bad knees - they put in a new joint. Point being you turn up at hospital and they do the rest.

With mental health it is a lot more difficult to resolve. You have to do the work yourself. Turning up to your appt is only the start of it. Then you have to get a treatment that suits you - CBT, motivational, solution based, group, etc. Next you have to get a counselor that you can work with - doctor, psychoanalyst, nurse, etc. Then correct type of anti depressants. So many stars need to align for it to work.

Then, the quality of the therapist - so many providers out there not producing the goods, but because of what it is, the 'fault' can be put on the patient for not putting in the effort.

Mental health capability is a joke here and failings can be easily hidden.

carrollsno1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111802#Comment_120111802

I know a few fellas my age who like myself came home and didnt settle who ended up going to counselling since returning as they just could not deal with the situations here we were facing into. I didnt go to counselling myself however i did do a 6 months programme myself last year with a life coach working on both physical and mental health, i was living away from home during it so there was a lot of things out of my control at the time that hindered progress some bit however now its really starting to work for me as im back home and have more of a routine i can work with. Either option was not cheap thats for sure but the benefits are far outweighing the cost so far anyways. Like a lot of things i started last year i only regret not doing i sooner after coming home. One of the key things that came from it was working on yourseld really fixing the things you can control and dont be stressing about things youll never have control over.

roosterman71

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111248#Comment_120111248

Lots talking, **** all doing anything useful. It boils my piss the amount of so-called experts or whatever that have popped up in the last few years. The first to spring to mind is yer man Bressie. Am I missing something with him that he has an authority to be front and centre for mental issues and support?

I see it in my day job where they set up a mentalhelp "group". Just random people who work there who are now invited to all sorts of shite and are being pushed down our throats as the go to people for all things mental related. Horse ****

carrollsno1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120112922#Comment_120112922

With my former employer ( a sizeable MNC) we had 24hr acccess to the Laya employee assistance programme every day of the year. We had toolbox talks on mental health, i attended one day at a 5 star hotel for a mindfulness/mental awareness day which had all levels of staf there from apprentices up to the 2IC, we had to do surveys throughout the year fill in feedback forms every week too on top of doing the actual job. My mental health and physical health to a point were at my lowest while working there. I was working with a fella nearly 40 years of age who hadnt a great situation outside work (self inflicted and could be helped had he listened to us "thick culchies"). He was expected to do a course that would mean he would have more responsibilty on certain jobs essetially meaning he could be the fall guy in certain scenarios. He explained to the line manager he had issues outside of work etc and couldnt deal with the extra stress of getting this ticket the response he got was along the lines of "everybody has struggles in there life that they just need to get over and get on with it". It was an absolute toxic place to work a foreman who loved humiliating grown men in there 40s, often tried to get me to break too but i never gave him an inch, three of us stopped to talk for a minute as we were all passing each other one day a company jeep pulled into the yard and a lad nearly 50 years of age hopped in the forklift and took off for fear of being seen idle for a minute. Myself and the other fella there couldnt believe what we had seen. I remember the first day i landed at the intel site and everywhere we went was posters about mental health and a few luminous jackets going around saying mental health buddy on them. Myself and an old welder both agreed this is going to be an absolute shitshow of a site if thats all were seeing and not yet in the gate. I gave 8 weeks in there before i finished with that crowd and i hope im never sent in there again

GNWoodd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111634#Comment_120111634

I wouldn’t for a minute be saying that Ireland is a Kip but the way of life that existed in rural Ireland has changed and not for the better . I have travelled the same area of the West for work for the last thirty years and it is easy to see how the social aspect of rural life has declined. Several pubs within the area have closed never to reopen .I often wonder what happened to the people who used to socialise in these places . Smaller marts have closed and two churches no longer have masses.

The Samaritans van parked at the entrance to the main mart in the county tells it own story .

funkey_monkey

The Samaritans van parked at the entrance to the main mart in the county tells it own story .

@GNWoodd - would they be doing any business? Would have thought that most people would be too embarrassed to be seen speaking to them in public.

Birdnuts

A number of studies done on the decline of mental health in modern western societies. Factors include rampant materialism, loss of social structures, addiction to social media, growing detachment from nature etc. The latter highlighted by the fact that the people least likely to have mental health problems within a given population are the likes of the Kalahari Bushmen or Amazon Tribal peoples. I would say another factor in Ireland is the weather and dark evening s, with similar issues in the likes of Canada, Scandanavia etc. Scientists reckon its cos our species is not that long out of Africa and lack of sunshine and heat is still detrimental to wellbeing.

GNWoodd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120113361#Comment_120113361

I could be wrong but I would think that the van is only like a mobile billboard. Seen it parked at other locations too, but at the mart only in recent times .

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120113533#Comment_120113533

That makes more sense.

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120113446#Comment_120113446

I'd add betting addictions, alcohol addiction (but it could be chicken and egg there as to which came first), time to think - could be opposite of your bushmen to survive, drug addictions, bad diet - mineral imbalances and chemical imbalances do cause brain problems and bad thoughts, epigenetics - even just could be unlucky in life and chemicals your parents were exposed to can cause problems in the next generation and the next generation..it'll be the generation after where if not exposed after where it weans out, lack of workplace self achievements and reward, loss of social structure⬆️ and societal fun, and last but not least what george hook classes as good for mental health..a good shag.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120113670#Comment_120113670

I would say bad diet is another factor alright - hate seeing kids going around permanently attached to plastic bottles of lucazade etc. A related issue is the decline in the nutrient quality of alot of fruit and veg etc. due to the deterioration of soils worldwide over the past 60 years or so

Kevhog1988

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120112648#Comment_120112648

Did you find that useful out of interest?. My director in work has identified me as "emerging talent" or something along them lines and has me booked in with a coach for a bunch of sessions. Im not sure what to make of it to be honest as its not something i would of done before

Lime Tree Farm

What a turnaround, where I worked they wanted "fit, willing and able"

Siamsa Sessions

Great to see a discussion on mental and physical health.

I've been listening to snippets of Alan Watts for years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfVJUKlbWVw

There's loads of his talks on YouTube. His voice is very easy to listen to and he doesn't take things too seriously.

K.G.

But you need to manage your mental health a little bit yourself espescailly when your able.you got to access where you are every so often and make some changes as you go.i must confess i dont really know what i m talking about as i ve never had a issue but i have had contact with people who have had situations.over the years i ve had to leave somethings or situation s go and rebuild your life in a different way.from time to time you got do something new that you havent done before or make a change in the way you approach things.these kind a things dont cure a chronic problem but do help to maintain good mental health.also try to have something every week thats not work or family related,i would freely admit i spend all of my time thinking of the next project or whatever and if i was faced with situation where i didnt have that i m not sure how i would react

Green&Red

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111664#Comment_120111664

Have you any source that children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents? Because that's not how the CSO see it, they have men living until 85 and women until 88 in 2045. If you're born in 2020 you're expected to live until your 90 and 93.

As for the "true standard of living declining" do you have anything to back that up?

Because in 2020 the UN had us as the second best quality of life in the world

IMO we've never had it so good in Ireland, we've an unemployment rate of 4.3%, considered to be full employment, we had a €4b surplus in a giveaway budget. We're likely to be protected from the recession that mainland Europe is facing into.

If you listened to social media you'd think we were living in Sudan or somewhere. I blame it on the Paul Murphy, Claire Daly, Sinn Fein types

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120116343#Comment_120116343

The UN also says we are screwed if we don't deal with climate change. So, if we are magically protected from that and can house N climate refugees then the future is bright for Irish kids. Lifeboat Ireland.

Ireland is also doing well from MNCs and the boom from related post covid. This can come and go at the drop of a hat. It's short term economics.

Cost of housing, family care costs, health care, health issues, social issues, and lack of secure employment, are making a lot of people miserable.

So many reasons why one person is miserable and someone else is not.

I think if you have accomodation secured, have a happy relationship, have a healthy family, have a good job ... life's good.

For many this is not the case. IMO.

Jjameson

gut bacteria have a bearing on your emotions as does the phases of the the moon, no doubt bad food ,lack of proper exercise, not taking or having the time to list all and appreciate all you have to be grateful for and be thankful and meditate on, not taking time to dream of the future and What you’d like it to be and planning how to make it happen are p pop a few of the contributing factors I’d be directly aware of.

when it hits unfortunately self cure isn’t easy as it’s all a bit of a catch 22. it’s a complex issue and real research and conversation about the condition is lacking.

Id like a bit of a move in the public domain away from the virtue signalling do gooders towards a advertising campaign actually listing the symptoms and signs so people might have an awareness to diagnose themselves. (It’s a sneaky hoore of a yoke sometimes you wouldn’t realise your not well). This alone can be enough to “self cure”.

yosemitesam1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120116979#Comment_120116979

"I think if you have accomodation secured, have a happy relationship, have a healthy family, have a good job ... life's good"

Without those few boxes and a few more ticked there's an inherent emptiness to life that if it creeps up on you is very difficult to fix bar you actually get things sorted, which isn't always possible.

Filling ones time up with sports is enough of a distraction for some but doesn't really fix the problem.

Kevhog1988

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114649#Comment_120114649

At a certain point i was the same bit they gave me a management role a year or so ago and its going well.

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120117903#Comment_120117903

When I think back on it, I wish I had kept the letter, it stated your number of 'sick days' and how you scored.

carrollsno1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114444#Comment_120114444

Lets discuss it over PM, all new graduates and apprentices were told we were emerging talent back tben too 🙄😂