Bressie now the voice of mental health in Ireland?

It's no wonder there has been such a huge stigma around mental health in this country for so long, when someone in the spotlight finally does start to talk about it they get slated heavily for doing so.

"Sure he's famous and in a band, what does he know about it?" "Only doing it for self gain" "But he's getting paid for talking about it, that doesn't count"

Are just some of the types of comments I've seen over and over again whenever this subject comes up. Is he doing it for self gain? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But that doesn't really matter at the end of the day because the message is getting a hell of a lot more coverage in the media than it was 5 years ago, and that's what matters.

I was a bit cautious about Bressie being legit and I too thought he was jumping on the bandwagon a bit. BUT then I went to see him talk at a university and WOW- it had such an impact on the audience. He had severe anxiety and panic from his school days until very recently. He suffered in silence, afraid to get help because of stigma. If his talks/book etc help a few people surely that's a good thing. Mental health is always the poor relation to cancer care/cardiac care etc so hopefully this might improve things for service users a little. Disclaimer- I work in hse mental health services.

smash wrote:

For many people the only cure is a complete lifestyle change and for the vast majority it's not a viable option.

I disagree with this. Massive changes rarely work long term, they are just a distraction for a little while from underlying issues that will reoccur until a person learns to deal with them. And dealing with depression a lot comes down to making a few very small changes.

Its called aggregation of marginal gains. The below article discusses how the UK cycling coach used this idea to get Britian from zero wins to a bundle of awards.
Theory is that if you improve a lot of areas by just 1%, these marginal gains all add up to give a very large overall improvement.

In the case of stress & depression, this could be applied as follows:


-Go to bed at a set time each night, before 10pm.
-turn off all screens(phone, pc, tablet ,tv etc) one hour before bed, to help your body get ready for sleep.
-start reading non stimulating material from an actual book before sleep.
Get 30 mins of exercise 4 or 5 times a week.
-cut out fizzy drinks. nothing more for now, just fizzy drinks.

Thats 4 small things that absolutely anybody can do, and none require a drastic lifestyle change. But they all add up to help you get better sleep, clear your head, get endorphins flowing, get physical health moving in the right direction & level off body chemistry ( cut sugar high's & lows).

After doing this for 3-4 weeks, cumulative effects should be very visible to the practitioner & can be built upon.


http://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains

Im not saying this is the answer to everything, and im sure there are some people in a lot of pain out there that need a lot of help, but the theory still applies, break the problem down, make small easy to adapt changes that aggregate up to a massive benefit in health & feeling of wellbeing.

smash wrote: »

Do you think it's ok to diagnose someone with depression because they're upset about the fact that they weren't granted a mortgage for the house they wanted?

Again, it depends. People need to know the difference between being a bit peeved/annoyed over something & a real issue. Someone might hit rock bottom and the trigger was not getting a mortgage, or missing a promotion or something that is just a small stumbling block to most people. Its important to remember that this is only the trigger, not the underlying cause, which needs to be teased out, mostly by the person in distress.

"Hey you with the depression - would you go back to bottling it up please? I am being mildly inconvenienced...."

the_barfly1 wrote: »

This celebrity bandwagoning of mental health issues is creating a climate in which doctors are afraid to NOT prescribe anti depressants to people who do not need them. FFS there's something like 10% of the population on them!!!!

Yer man Bressie had/has (did he have at all?) a few anxiety attacks and calls it depression. F*uck off. And now he's making a living from making teenage girls think that they too are depressed. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a few kickbacks from the pharma companies in there too.

People really need to cop on and learn the realities of depression.

Grieving a broken relationship is NOT depression.
Feeling down about being unemployed is NOT depression.
Not being able to afford the latest poxy iphone and feeling sh1t about that is NOT depression.
Anything that causes negative feelings that you have the power to change is NOT depression.
Yet these are the reasons that people claim to be depressed.
When I was younger it was called feeling blue, and it passes.

A quick google will show anybody who's interested that over two thirds of the people currently on anti-depressant medication are NOT depressed. (p*ss off and google it for yourself, i'm not here to aggregate links)


REAL clinical depression is beyond the comprehension of 99% of the population, and rightly so. That 1% are the ones that need real help.

The world is gone nuts about depression. Everybody is depressed, but hardly anybody is. The sad thing is that the "hardly anyone" that are, are having the services that should be there to help them diluted massively by the ones that "think" they are.

I await the attacks of the boards.ie Social Justice Warriors. Do I care? No.

Pretty much this. Not to minimise anyone or their experiences but there is a big difference between feeling depressed and depression.

Watch Louis Theroux's "America's Medicated Kids" from a few years ago...I don't know if we're quite going that far but its certainly a cautionary tale.

smash wrote: »

We're rapidly heading in that direction.

I'm not a conspiracy nut but when some social change or new social phenomenon occurs, it behooves the thinking man to ask "Cui bono?" (Who profits?)....this will often lead you to the source of or the impetus behind this change or phenomenon.

How dare some of you. You really haven't a f**kin clue what you are talking about it seems. Yes there are some people that take the p**s by saying they are depressed when they are just annoyed about something but in general they are few and far between and the majority of people who are depressed are actually suffering a severe and disabling illness.

I have suffered from depression at various times in my life. As a teen I was told I was just a spoiled princess and to cop myself on. My parents wouldn't bring me to see anyone for help because there was such a stigma attached to that, despite me trying to kill myself.

At 24 I suffered post natal depression, threatened to kill my husband or myself coz I couldn't take any more of the bad marriage and 2 small kids and finally, my mother was able to see that I needed help and I was dragged to the doctor. I was on medication for a year and completed counselling which really helped and I found the strength to leave my marriage and raise my kids on my own thanks to that intervention.

I have had a couple of bouts a few years later and was on meds again briefly while getting counselling etc down the years. It is an ongoing struggle but I feel less embarrassed about the fact that I have been ill, mainly due to the lessening of the stigma with thanks to people like Bressie speaking out about it.

One of my siblings suffers from severe mental health issues and has had a really rough year. We nearly lost him. My family have been through hell but by seeing Bressie talk about this and seeing that someone who on paper "has it all" go through such struggles and have the strength and bravery to stand up and talk about it, has given us all such solace. My sibling see's Bressie and feels less of a freak coz they see that even someone like him can struggle and this makes their illness seem a little less scary and encourages them to have hope for the future.

So no matter your opinion of Bressie, his starting the conversation is saving lives and giving people the courage to go look for help when they can see themselves slide into ill health.

/rant

I recently read his book and as someone that had anxiety for 12 years I can only applaud him and what he's trying to do.

He's a young guy, who suffered with terrible anxiety and depression at a time when no one dared mention it and even if you did go to the doc all they would do is send you away with a bunch of pills to mask the symptoms.

If you've never had either illness why not just be thankful for that and move on instead of judging someone who's only trying to help those who find themselves in the same situation.

I've no idea why people have an issue with him trying to make money while doing this. He's human. He needs to eat. He needs somewhere to live. And unless you're prepared to pay his bills for him you're in no place to judge.

Witchie wrote: »

How dare some of you. You really haven't a f**kin clue what you are talking about it seems.........

/rant

I mean no disrespect, but I think you're missing the point(in relation to my position, at least).

It's clear that you've had genuine problems, but this celebrity depression culture is doing more harm than good in my opinion, and is leaving people too afraid to administer a bit of tough love where necessary. This is in turn leading to the mass medication of a lot of people who would benefit much more from a bit of that tough love. I don't think that anybody would argue that sometimes a good kick up the arse is the best medicine. This one-size-fits-all approach to mental health is the medical equivalent of mollycoddling. There is no balance.

What you describe DOES sound like a genuine case - so why should mental health services be clogged up with people who do not need them, resulting in genuine cases having fewer resources available to them?

And yes it is true that I don't know what it feels like to experience the kind of depression you speak of, and I'm glad - but I know both people that are in similar situations, as well as (plenty) more that are just a drain on services.

THAT is the crux of the issue as far as I am concerned.

I wish you well in your continued recovery, even though we most likely disagree on many things - but hey - ain't that the beauty of the human race, individual viewpoints!

PS-I still think Bressie is a disingenuous, money-hungry cretin profiting from peoples mental health issues though. I'll never change my position on that! :pac: There are so many non profits around doing great (real) work that should be promoted instead of that guy.