Anxiety - an illness amenable to treatment and often cure, by David Melding AM
Like tens of thousands of people in Wales I have suffered from depression and anxiety. The episodes of depression have been infrequent and usually related to adverse experiences that can hit any of us in the course of life.
My vulnerability to anxiety has been more constant and I am still recovering from the last significant episode, although I now feel much more resilient and generally confident about my mental wellbeing. Key to recovery was my decision to seek treatment, in this case counselling that was available at my GP’s surgery.
I sometimes describe anxiety to friends as the feeling one had when sitting important exams- only magnified. There is a tenseness, muddied concentration, and a hypervigilance against things suddenly going wrong. And of course a sense that whatever goes wrong will be YOUR! fault. Only the feeling is constant and does not disappear a few minutes into the exam. It is physically exhausting. You have little sense of proportion and life’s routine trials and tribulations become daunting. When these anxious feelings interrupt everyday life- going out, driving the car, turning up for work, or whatever else- it is time to seek treatment.
Too many of us do not seek treatment soon enough and needlessly suffer in silence. We feel embarrassed, frightened, or just weak as if it were not normal to be ill. There are still not enough role models to encourage us to seek out help- although more people now talk candidly about mental distress. So I am delighted to do my little bit for the Time to Change Wales campaign.
Many of you might well think my career choice a little odd. After all, politicians are supposed to be bright, breezy and confident people. Actually I have rarely found my public role the most challenging part of life even when ill. Interacting with people was usually a tonic and reduced some of my symptoms of anxiety. Speaking in the Senedd was a lot tougher- but even that I managed without obvious difficulty. Yet I experienced little ease of living and the strain and exhaustion never left me. One positive outcome of my experiences of mental distress has been the sense of mission it has given me to raise these issues in the Assembly.
...mental illness is like illness in general – a normal and natural event amenable to treatment and often cure.
As far as we know our brains are the most sophisticated biological entities in the universe. Their power and complexity allow us to live remarkable and creative lives. It is little wonder that for some of us mental distress can be a side-effect of this biological wonder. One of the greatest advances of recent decades has been a deeper understanding of mental illness. Thankfully this has led also to better treatments including talking therapies and more effective medications. Even more important has been the realisation that mental illness is like illness in general – a normal and natural event amenable to treatment and often cure.
David Melding is the Deputy Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales and Member for South Wales Central.
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Comments
Mental illness
I thoroughly endorse David Melding's comments and think him very brave to speak out.
Apologies for the late
Apologies for the late posting of this response.
Phil, it is kind of you to commend my bravery in speaking out. Actually, I did not find it that difficult this time as I have referred to my experiences before. However, I join you in praising the courage of my AM colleagues who did speak out for the first time. It is never easy.
Finally, let me say that people should only speak out when they feel it is right for them to do so. However, we should work hard to remove the barriers that so often stop people even from thinking about speaking to family, friends and colleagues about mental health.
Depression
Yes, David. I totally agree.
emotional well being
David Melding I am so proud of you!!!!! It is about time there was more awareness and understanding of emotional health .Most of us over forty have been brought up to not acknowledge emotional illness in the same way our grandmothers and great grandmothers would stoically announce `We didn't have the menopause in my day!` .Women who were affected by depression were carted off and treated as social pariah's and only spoken of again in hushed whispers behind gloved hands in chapel.
So to, the emotional health issues many people experience but struggle with in silence for fear of being thought incapable of holding down a job, of being a parent, or of being entrusted with any responsible position. Worse than all these things , the stigma that still follows even in these so called enlightened times . Even today the expression` she /he suffers with their nerves`, followed by a knowing look , can deem a person to a lifetime of being patronised and shied away from by their friends and often family as there is so little empathy due to a lack of knowledge. The old agage ignorance breeds fear is never more apt than in these situations.
It seems there are no taboos left in society , so why does emotional illness remain the last of them? The human psyche is both wonderful and intriguing and yet complex and fragile.Thousands of self help books have been written on the subject , and the underlying message is always, `think positive`.While it has it's merits , it's about time we said,`hey , I can't think positive, will I still have my job, ? will I lose my house? Can I still feed my kids ? will I cope if my elderly parent develops dementia? What would I do if I had a serious ilness? For most of the time these are issues we all live with and deal with when the situations present themselves to us.For many people these things happen one after another , especillay in the times we are living in.So we should be able to say`Help, I am sinking under all this , I don't feel positive and I just can't leave the house today , without fear of being thought unstable or that we have some long term condition that will render us incapable of taking our place in society.
There are thousands of people walking around with emotional health problems , who would rather die than admit it, even to themselves, the fear of social stigma would just excabberate the problems.
Many television celebrities have spoken about their experiences with emotional health, the most sincere to my mind being Monty Don, television gardener and presenter of Gardeners World who has admitted he will always battle with the ups and downs of depression.
While this is helpful we need people closer to home such as yourself and others in this blog to help people come to terms with illness in much the same way as if you have back problems.They may not go away but may flare up from time to time , but you can still live a fulfilling life despite of it , and not have your world turned upside down as a result of it. Tolerance and understanding, patience and kindness to ourselves and others is they key issue and definetly more knowledge and recognition of the fact this is an issue which affects more people than we can ever know about or reach.It is only in speaking out we will rid society of the attitudes that still exist as a result of lack of knowledge.
I salute you David , and I see your role and that of othere who are as like minded as you are , as ambassadors for this cause.You will definetly break down the barriers, indeed you have made me feel a lot better about myself , as I also have patches of anxiety and always have had , which can be trggered by taking on too much , tiredness , insecurity and on and on.Maybe David there is a book in the pipeline here-
`No I don't want to think positive,it makes me a nervous wreck` or the other old chestnut `never mind dear it could have been worse -thank you it was!`
I fell down the stairs a week ago , and have bruised the base of my spine which is very painful.A `friend` called as she heard i had fallen, and declared it could have been worse , I could have broken my neck.Her main concern was I could not help with the church fund raising tea , I knew this as she `hoped I would be better by then`.!! So now I just want to pull the drawbridge up :) A sense of humour I have found is vital when you feel at odds with the world.But just knowing others feel the same way sometimes to a greater or lesser degree is the best antidote there is.
Keep ploughing forward David, I could write so much more , we'll have to write a paper.:)
Joy King
I apologise for posting this
I apologise for posting this response so late, but my earlier attempt for some reason failed.
Joy makes the highly relevant point that it is easier for celebrities (and even politicians!) to speak out as they do so from a fairly secure position and can expect to be heard with sympathy.
What we need to do, and it is what this campaign is all about, is create a climate in which mental illness can be talked about in a normal and natural way. This would not suddenly cure us all of mental distress, of course! But it would create a more supportive environment for the one in four of us who - off and on, most of the time, or only ever once - suffer mental illness.
A silent darkness...
Thank you David for sharing your story. My hope is that more of society will begin to understand what life can be like for some of us. I have only recently learnt to accept that I suffer with anxiety after years of thinking that there was something wrong with me, that I wasn't normal, and that I was at times losing my mind. About 12 months ago I took the decision to disclose my anxiety to my employer as the additional stress of work was causing more frequent anxiety attacks at home. It became clear from day one that the organisation had absolutely no idea how to deal with the situation and even though there is a well being policy in place, it's just a piece of paper that no one knows what to do with. I have had to attend meetings with directors, had confidential information shared without my consent, had my capability questioned and been told by my HR section that I shouldn't come of my medication, amongst other catalogues of errors. Thankfully I have the most amazing support network in friends and family who have supported me. My employers have a long way to go in understanding anxiety and while I can share my experiences so that any future employees are treated respectfully and supported at work, my experience has felt like that of a human guinea pig with them trying, testing and failing diffent things to see if they will help. I just hope to god they learnt something!
I hope that the Time to Change campaign will extend to workplaces understanding how to support their employees with mental health problems, and people speaking out is an important step. Lets hope it's the start of action...