Janet Street Porter’s comments on depression – naive, prejudicial & outrageous
It is not often that I find myself outraged to the point of anger but Janet Street Porter’s article on depression in the Daily Mail has me incensed. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1278510/Depression-Its-just-new-trendy-illness.html. In a few hundred words she has attempted to undo many years of tireless campaigning to reduce the stigma and raise awareness of mental ill health. She likens depression to being the ‘latest accessory’, saying that it is ‘just the new trendy illness’. What? Having worked with many people with depression it has never seemed to me to be something people make a conscious choice to get.
Just as people are becoming confident to share with others their experience of depression, Porter ridicules their accounts of attempting suicide and the daily battle they face to get well by saying, ‘get a grip’. And it is exactly that lack of empathy and understanding that my clients have to deal with. Often, during our mental health awareness sessions, attendees – for the first time - feel safe and liberated enough to share their story and seek help. They often cite the media’s lack of understanding as perpetuating the stigma they face from family, friends and work colleagues.
Evidently, she is just a ‘tension seeker’ and has not really researched her subject before commenting. The stigma around mental ill health has not gone away- indeed it is one of the biggest challenges facing my clients in the workplace and we work together to tackle it. Depression doesn’t just affect the ‘middle classes’ as Porter claims. Mental illness, unlike Porter, does not discriminate, anyone – irrespective of background, wealth or status can be affected.
What’s your view?
Comments
Posted on 21st May 2010 by Liz Burnett
I myself have very nearly written a piece in response to Ms Street Porter’s ridiculous and under researched article, and am delighted that there is widespread outrage about the publication of such utter drivel.
As you rightly point out, depression can affect anyone at anytime, and it certainly isn’t a condition that anyone of us chooses to be afflicted with. I have spent the last 6 months recovering from a severe bout of depression, and at one point was threatened with being sectioned by my GP if I refused to stay with my family who had essentially ‘rescued me’. Aged 33, being dragged home to live with one’s parents is more than a little embarrassing, and the stigma and shame I felt for my condition and my situation did not help to improve my illness. I STILL find it difficult to see people who I haven’t seen since before my depression for fear of their ‘opinion’.
Ms Street Porter has completely failed to appreciate that for all those people who suffer from depression, not all of them make it through. And articles such as hers which increase the stigma and the lack of understanding about the illness will do nothing to help people come forward in their hour of need, or prompt those around them to help pull them out of the black cloud back into light.
Whether one is rich, poor, a parent or not, married or a single person, male or female, severe clinical depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain which must be addressed with a combination of medication and therapy. It is not simply a case of ‘pull your self together’, ‘stiff upper lip’ or ‘stop feeling sorry for yourself’. I wonder if Ms Street Porter would like to write an article telling diabetics that they don’t need their insulin on a daily basis? I suspect not, because diabetes is seen as a ‘proper illness’ by those who do not understand mental health issues. Or how about a piece in this weeks Mail telling paraplegics to get up out of their wheelchairs and dance? I can’t imagine that even someone as blinkered as Ms Street Porter would dare to do this, so why attack what is actually another – sometimes fatal – condition?
To put this into context, I recently read in the local paper of the tragic death of a son of family friends. Seeing that his title was Lt., I automatically assumed that he had been in Afganistan serving with the army. However, when I asked my mother about this, she told me that he had taken his own life. He was only in his early 20s, a young man with a whole life ahead of him and no one was aware of his state of mind. It has been a total shock to his family who had no idea that their wonderful son had reached this terrible point where he ended his own life.
I salute everyone who has stood up and told their own personal story of their struggle with the monster that descends and consumes the will to live. We need more people to do this to hopefully save lives and stop others suffering from this horrible condition. Maybe if someone had caught our family friend’s son earlier, he would still be alive today.
Posted on 24th July 2010 by Martin Hogg
I got annoyed by the comments too. I am a counsellor and run anger management courses in Birmingham England. Sometimes depressed people don’t get angry enough- not a problem Janet ever seems to have. there are tens of thousands of depressed up and down the UK who can barely make it out of bed in the morning, and a walk to the shops is a major achievement. Celebrities can be a great help in reducing stigma of depression…come on Janet wake up, not everyone can think themselves into action.
Posted on 9th August 2010 by cna training
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it