People who have had mental health issues #3: Catherine Zeta Jones

It made the news: Catherine Zeta Jones treated for bipolar II.

Surveys on mental health attitudes

Recently was sent this -a survey on attitudes to mental health issues. Some excerpts:

 Since 1994, the proportion of respondents voicing more tolerant opinions on several of these statements has decreased – for example, agreement that ‘We need to adopt a more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness’ fell from 92% in 1994 to 87% in 2010.

Over two-thirds of respondents said they would be comfortable talking to a friend or family member about their mental health, for example, telling them they had a mental health diagnosis and how it affects them.

An interesting read. RECOVERY has plans to survey its members too- we'll collect some data and tell you how mental health in Leicestershire is looking.

People who have had mental health issues #2: Marian Keyes

So I was reading her latest book last night and the woman knows her mental health, and its stigma. She's one of the more well-known depression fighters- she beat alcoholism, she writes about the mental consequences of things like rape and violence, and generally we're quite lucky to have her.

But, she's still going through a lot and at the beginning of last year she suffered a breakdown. It was covered by a few newspapers, although if you want to keep your temper then for love of God don't read the comments in the Daily Mail article. Her most recent update on her newsletter says:

"I don’t exactly know what to say because I still don’t really know what happened to me. The medical profession call it ‘a major depressive episode’ but I’ve been knocked sideways by a multitude of feelings, not just depression but agitation, anxiety, terror, panic, grief, desperation, despair and an almost irresistible desire to be dead and it’s gone on for a very long time. Every day for six solid months I’ve had to try really hard to stay alive. I’ve literally got through each day hour by hour, trying to hang on until the sun set and it was time to close the shutters on the windows and then I’d feel, Okay I’ve survived another day."

I figure a lot of people will relate to that? I can, a little. It worries me a bit that that last update was back in May 2010...I hope she's better now.

People who have had mental health issues #1: Catherine Tate

Okay, chances are high that if you're British, you've heard of her:

She's the genius behind the Catherine Tate Show, she was Donna on Doctor Who, she's done plays and movies and is generally awesome. And she's had OCD- a specialised form of it that reminds me of, well, me. Hers centered on word association while mine tends to focus on number association. She couldn't leave a jumper on the floor because 'jumper' began with J and so did her mother's name. Now that makes no sense, but that's OCD for you.

She also suffers from panic attacks (me too) and depression. Interviewes describe her as 'shy'. It feels rather odd to be writing these things about a person I know is real, by the way. I can't put my finger on it, it seems like I'm pointing the finger at somebody and shouting YOU! YOU HAD MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS! But no-one would say a similar thing if I was writing about a celebrity's battle with cancer, so it just...makes me wonder.

Catherine Tate is really truly awesome, anyways.