Michelle, Thank you for your comment, which has now been reviewed by the Editor and has been posted on the relevant site discussion area.

— Original Message —

Yet another group of people gathering together to make a plan for ‘US’. I have encountered so much inability by those that represent the mentally ill to converse with us. The problem clearly is fear.

A programme was run by the Centre for Women Studies in Trinity in 1996 concerned with the re-integration of women and depression back into society. I was one of the first 15. It carried on for another couple of years but the NRB found it to costly to implement. Without it I could never have gone to Trinity College Dublin – the syllabus provided me with the necessary coping mechanisms but alas the inability of academia to meet the needs of those with disability particularly mental illness, and their inability to correspond and to consistently ignore your emails forces me to write and ask people to take on board the systems and representative organisations that excludes people.

We need an inclusive society. Research by sociologists re. mental health should involve people who have had mental health problems on an equal footing. The question needs to be asked who decides what is to be researched; who funds it; what are the motives? The concept of the research making up the questions to my mind skews it. I of course may be wrong……. Everyone has talents – a Platonic regimented approach to education does not invoke the best in people and is blatantly not suitable to young people who could be described as having say a sensitive nature. I wrote to compliment an academic on a paper regarding rights for the like of me and many more and I have received not even an acknowledgement based on principle and courtesy – it has been to no avail. This is ignorance and from the legal profession. I even raised it at a Fine Gael meeting on Crime.

Charles Murray referred to the creation of the Underclass in America in the 1960’s – we are doing the same here. Mental illness is about stigma, shame, labels, limited if any insurance required, Church hostility when marriage goes wrong. It is about an adversarial system that is penal to the person who is part of the revolving door of psychiatric. People must wake up. We are losing too many men to suicide.

A child of 13 who had been raped at 10 is one of the latest to take her life. No one listens or cares as long as the presentation of the document for the meeting is acceptable. We are too far removed from reality. Shame – it is absolutely a disgrace about the woman arrested and held for 10 hours re. the hoax calls. We also must think about John Carthy.

In England they speak about Mental Health Survivors – we need to be talking Survivors here. In order to survive you need rehabilitation like the Trinity Horizon programme. One final point. Why is alcoholism and drug addiction (illegal) not included with mental illness. A recent study shows that women enter mainly as depressives while men enter hospitals as alcoholics. Of course men are likely to have the large salaries etc. The link is very close between depression and alcohol. What skews this research? It is coping strategies that people ought to be looking at. Michelle

Quote: Goethe:

‘Treat people as if they are what they ought to be and YOU WILL HELP THEM BECOME WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF BECOMING’

You can view the article, along with all comments, by clicking the following link: http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=5347

From: <editor@irishhealth.com>

To: <michelle33@eircom.net>

Subject: Message posted

Date: Monday, December 01, 2003 9:57 AM

Michelle,

Thank you for your comment, which has now been reviewed by the Editor and has been posted on the relevant site discussion area.

— Original Message —

A Judge recently referred to Divorce being an  ‘Armageddon for Children’.

To hear that approx. 1,000 children in Dublin are presently homeless, is an absolute disgrace.  Something must be done and soon.

In no way can the possibility be sanctioned by the people of the Island of Ireland that our present Government can facilitate the removal of rent allowance and ensure that more children are to be found homeless.

It is time for people to think.  Children are to be cherished.  Parents must be empowered to provide for their children.  Someone needs to start working in Government offices about the potential workforce.

Gandhi:  You have got to be change you want to see.

You can view the article, along with all comments, by clicking the following link:

http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=5421

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