Let's chat about madness . . .

And what was the catalyst?

tylersmayhem said :

Getting these messages into schools is a great idea. When I was invovled in Marist a few years ago, before the sexual abuse issues became public knowledge, I was staggered by the number of students and ex-students that were committing suicide.

I have long believed this, and after 2 guys out of my year alone killing themselves, and other “possibles”, I’d be interested to hear your findings and what you have heard BerraBoy!

TM – I was involved in running the Old Boys Assoc. for 3 years prior to learning of the prevelance of sexual abuse at the school. However, when I was in charge of the Old Boys, I was constantly amazed at the amount of times I was told by the school that yet another ex-student had committed suicide. I can’t tell you haw many times I heard that. When the abuse issue first surfaced, I was in contact with Jason Parkinson mainly as it was myself and an ex-classmate that told the CT about Lyons spending 12 years at Marist and about our suspicions surrounding Kostka. In a later conversation Jason advised that he had looked into the suicide rate at Marist and Dara and that it appeared that the suicide rate at these school over that period was higher than the average.

The problem is that by mentioning this publically as we now are, it opens a massive can of worms for families that have lost boys. E.G. one of my brothers died naturally while in yr 11 in ’83 but my folks are now freaking out that he ‘may’ have been abuse. What must other families think whose sons and brothers did commit suicide but left other reasons.

BTW: I have been keeping this under my hat until now as when I first spoke on the ABC about TimforHealingACT, I was contacted by a mate who is active in the schools Old Boy Association – whatever that is now, the Association haven’t been heard off since the issue came to light – much to their own shame I believe. I must stress that my mate is a very good bloke but he was adamant that I not mention the suicide of boys at Marist lest it upset anybody. I think, however, that keeping it quite does any boy that may have killed himself due to sexual abuse a great diservice.

People collect things, ant. Stamps, cars, pornography, bicycles, porcelain, whatever.

What’s this issue YOU have with cats? Hmmmmmm?

So, what’s the diagnosis for people who suddenly have 30 cats? Surely it must be some kind of condition, a compulsion to acquire cats.

I have been amazed by the high prevalence of people with mental health issues here in Canberra. I’ve come into contact with more people with problems in the last 4 years here than in the whole rest of my life. Is there something going on here?

For a long time Canberra has the highest rate of suicide in Australia per capita I believe. Not sure if that is still the case.

Getting these messages into schools is a great idea. When I was invovled in Marist a few years ago, before the sexual abuse issues became public knowledge, I was staggered by the number of students and ex-students that were committing suicide.

I have long believed this, and after 2 guys out of my year alone killing themselves, and other “possibles”, I’d be interested to hear your findings and what you have heard BerraBoy!

Hey poptop! All good my friend! I love edgy language, maybe this one was a bit close for me on account of my friends.

Knowing you work in the field I understand all the more where you’re coming from!

Aurelius said :

Gungahlin Al said :

I have been amazed by the high prevalence of people with mental health issues here in Canberra. I’ve come into contact with more people with problems in the last 4 years here than in the whole rest of my life. Is there something going on here?

Yeah there is, Al. Crazy’s the new black.

no, it isn’t. people are now being diagnosed correctly – conditions like depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, etc, etc were often confused by a bad diagnosis, and really bad treatment. There have been instances where manic depressive people have been provided with drugs that, unfortunately, interact badly with their conditions.

bi-polar people who have been led to believe that lithium is only a short term treatment, then relapse after they “decide” that they are better.

There are several genetic conditions that manifest themselves with both physical and mental identifiers, sometimes, the physical can be very hard to recognise, but the mental is far more visible.

Gungahlin Al said :

I have been amazed by the high prevalence of people with mental health issues here in Canberra. I’ve come into contact with more people with problems in the last 4 years here than in the whole rest of my life. Is there something going on here?

Yeah there is, Al. Crazy’s the new black.

Perhaps my relative tolerance towards what you regard as edgy language is because of my working with a number of people either in the sector or diagnosed with a mental illness/dysfunction.

It’s the gallows humour you get in most human services trades. I do note your concern and have taken it on board in the spirit it was given; I will try to not be too extreme with my headers. =-)

DJ said :

AngryHenry – calm down….

My pulse is actually at a resting rate of around 75 bpm, I’m pretty chilled right now.

Point taken poptop. And to a certain extent I appreciate what you’re saying too but it’s kind of like going…

“Sex,

– Oh now that I’ve got your attention.”

Mental health covers a broad range of things from depression to anxiety whereas madness is sitting in the middle of the road fingerpainting with your own faeces, or making dead-skin masks out of your victims.

Thanks for the stats too, and if you’ve got four friends that are okay, then it’s you with the problem right! ha-ha! But, given these stats, perhaps Mental Health has a bit more relevance to people than a Radiance Dance Company performance so again I do question the title.

I’ve got a few mates that suffer from mental illness, from very mild depression to full-blown bi-polar, and I can’t come at anyone who uses the word ‘madness’. I don’t think using words like that promote the ‘openess’ on the subject you desire.

It has however provoked some discussion so hey, who am I to say what’s right and wrong, maybe the headline is doing you more favours than I thought???

More people need to talk about this stuff, so good on you for highlighting it.

ant said :

Well, some people start to amass cats, en masse, and it seems to signal some kind of onset of madness. Cats in the double figures. And I just wonder if there’s some kind of condition this signals?

Cat herding is an art isn’t it? Not an easy job…

AngryHenry – calm down….

Angry Henry and Poptop – I initially thought this thread was a retrospective of the original and excellent music written and performed by the original 80’s SKA band who had numerous hits with merry chart topping melodies such as ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘House of Fun’! Imagine my surprise when I realised it was really a thread about mental illness.

Angry Henry,

I hear what your saying; however when I posted a straight headline advising the Radiance Dance performance would be on; it got no discussion [other than Granny] and subsequently other posters commented they wished they had known about the performance.

If putting provocative headers on the article get people reading it I think they are doing the issues some favours.

National statistics suggest that one in five people will suffer from a diagnosable mental illness or dysfunction at some point in their lives. I think more discussion, understanding and openess on the subject is healthy.

Thanks Poptop for the thread and I agree with Gungalin Al and Peter, there are a lot of people in the ACT suffering various types of mental illness.

I had a breakdown early last year that really caught me by surprise. After examination by a psychologist I ralised that my levels of depression, anxiety and stress were extreme. In some ways the breakdown was one of the best things that could have happened to me as I now take to ‘stop and smell the roses’. Not all the problems and stresses I was dealing with in my life have gone away but I now know how to deal with them better.

I also understand the reluctance some people may have in discussing their own experiences but to my mind there can never be any shame in asking for help, or in discussing these issues. As I’ve always been open about what happened to me, what struck me as very curious is the amount of people I know that told me about their own battles with depression, anxiety etc. most of whom had experienced breakdowns of their own. And some of these people are, or have been, senior public servants.

Getting these messages into schools is a great idea. When I was invovled in Marist a few years ago, before the sexual abuse issues became public knowledge, I was staggered by the number of students and ex-students that were committing suicide. Something has to be done and this initiaitive of talking to students has to be a good start.

Mental Illness does not necessarily equate to madness, I would be very careful about how you word stuff like that.

I understand there are good intentions behind this article but the headline really is not doing you any favours…

Well, some people start to amass cats, en masse, and it seems to signal some kind of onset of madness. Cats in the double figures. And I just wonder if there’s some kind of condition this signals?

ant said :

Why do people suddenly start amassing cats? Just askin’.

why do you have to be mad to amass cats?

I thought talking to trees would have been a better indicator…

well done poptop, this is something that i believe needs to be raised with the young people of today, far too many people have left my life in the past due to misunderstanding or stigma based on their behaviours, no support and no options available. Many were depressed, when this wasn’t believed to be an illness.

Teenage depression is a killer. the new kids coming into this teenage experience need as much assistance and support as they can.

Why do people suddenly start amassing cats? Just askin’.

I have been amazed by the high prevalence of people with mental health issues here in Canberra. I’ve come into contact with more people with problems in the last 4 years here than in the whole rest of my life. Is there something going on here?

As a result we have been running a series of mental health articles in the Gungahlin Smokesignals newsletters to give the issues an airing. And it’s been surprising how well the articles have been received, with a number of supportive and even thankful messages coming back to us.