Bookmarked: A heartfelt look at mental health

On By leeds11

 

Councillor Adam Ogilvie wrote this piece over on the Better Lives for People in Leeds blog:

My visit to the Vale with Janet Hamilton, Cllr. Hanley, Eli Sherriff and Debbie Ramskill
My visit to the Vale with Janet Hamilton, Cllr. Hanley, Eli Sherriff and Debbie Ramskill

“One in four people will suffer a mental health problem at some point in their life” – something that caught my eye on Twitter the other day.

Having recently visited the Leeds mental health charity Touchstone, and with visits to some of our Adult Social Care mental health providers, the item particularly resonated.

It also resonated as my sister suffered from schizophrenia until she died in 2006. Ever since that point I have always felt I should be doing my part to raise awareness of mental health and be an advocate for improvements to services for people who experience mental health problems and their families and carers.

Read the full article here.

3 Replies to “Bookmarked: A heartfelt look at mental health”

  1. I have also visited the Leeds mental health charity Touchstone. My problem was depression I also have first onset Parkinson’s.

    I was also under the care of a Mental Health Practitioner, for depression, which I visited at Hunslet Health Centre for 3 months. Then I was told my sessions were over and nothing else could be done.

    I was put on anti depressant tablets, which had their own side effects, when I told doctor about this all they did was tell me to come off them, which I did.

    Now, because of the depression and a lot of pain I’m in at the moment, I’m lucky if I get two or three hours of sleep a night.

    We really need more Practitioners to care of all, who suffer from Mental illness. More awareness will not go amiss as well.

    1. I have also been through a period of depression over the last couple of years. Like you I was given anti-depressants (which did help in the short term) and three months of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The last government latched onto CBT as an affordable ‘talking cure’, but they dished it out as a one size fits all solution. This was a big improvement on GPs just dishing out drugs, but of course every patient is different. I know I could have done with longer with a therapist.

  2. I’ve heard about CBT but don’t know much about it. Will have to Google it.

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