A sentimental blues? - CoolTan Arts’ response to ‘Depression? It’s just the new trendy illness!’ by Janet Street Porter

A sentimental blues? CoolTan Arts’ response to ‘Depression? It’s just the new trendy illness!’ by Janet Street Porter, Daily Mail 19th May 2010 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1278510/Depression-Its-just-new-trendy-illness.html If you have a problem, talking - or writing - helps. Bottling up concerns and anxieties is damaging. Having a better grasp on the facts and a heightened social awareness of mental distress is a key step in moving forward and finding positive ways to ease the suffering experienced by a growing amount of people. Janet Street Porter recently branded a number of middle class women of exploiting experiences of depression, when arguably they should be understood. Who are we to judge what another person’s depression might be like? Her article raises a distinct social and financial ‘class’ question. And supposedly enough wealth can buy proper treatment, yet why is mental distress still on the rise across all communities? We are given no facts to support any of Janet Street Porter’s article. Is telling the women cited to, in effect, simply ‘pull their socks up and get over it’ a proviso for a positive resolution? Articles such as this carelessly promote unnecessary and negative stigma. Our western lifestyle is manic. It’s terrifically fast and ferocious and changes have happened quickly. Our working week is one of the longest in Europe and pressure is greater than it has been. As the medical world has improved it’s methods of diagnosing and treating clinical depression, bi-polar, and other forms of mental distress, the word ‘depression’ has become a word that’s being casually thrown about in everyday life. Serious conditions can be belittled and undermined through misunderstanding. Or I misunderstood Ms Street-Porter’s point that melancholy is increasingly used to boost popularity, to gain attention and of course, sell celebrity-endorsed books? Whatever, there is something seriously off kilter when people who voice concerns about their own well being, are ignored, mistreated, or not taken seriously. This is a tragedy. It’s common to hear of people misinformed and encouraged into prescribed drug dependency when other courses of action could be much more effective. Alternate solutions should be offered and sought, and social therapy could be encouraged; often the charities and organisations who offer these avenues are not adequately recognised, supported or promoted. Some forms of mental distress are increasing rapidly and we need a better plan of action to combat destructive attitudes and find ways to bring stability and equal care into our communities. Is there a lack of creativity in the ‘system’ that reinforces isolation and pressure? One example is CoolTan Arts, a charity challenging stigma and campaigning for the rights of people experiencing mental distress. CoolTan Arts works from a vibrant arts centre near Elephant and Castle in South London. Run by and for people with mental distress, it believes mental well being is enhanced by the power of creativity. We would very much welcome Janet Street Porter to come and visit us, at her convenience, and hopefully revise her opinions. “Mixed anxiety and depression, according to the ONS 2000 survey, is experienced by 9.2 per cent of adults in Britain… the figures show an increase in the prevalence of mixed anxiety with depression compared with the 1993 survey by 1.4 per cent (from 7.8 per cent to 9.2 per cent). Source: ONS, 2000, Psychiatric morbidity among adults living in private households in Great Britain.” Source: http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/commonstats.html Written by Martin Walsh ©, volunteer at CoolTan Arts, with members of CoolTan Arts’ Self-Advocacy Training Course. More information about CoolTan Arts is available on W: www.cooltanarts.org.uk , E: info@cooltanarts.org.uk, T: 020 77012696.