Our Mummy, Marie Molloy: 1957 – 2023
10 months ago
Sunday 30 August 2009
Another Time To Change video
Time To Change video challenging the media's perception of schizophrenia:
Thursday 20 August 2009
Time To Change fighting mental health stigma
Thursday 21 February 2008
Friday 25 January 2008
Living with Ultra Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder
I’ve decided to write a piece describing how I live with my type of bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric disorder marked by alternating episodes of mania and depression and was called manic-depressive illness in the past but this name has now been superseded. My particular type of bipolar disorder is called ‘ultra rapid cycling bipolar disorder’.
What makes it ‘ultra rapid cycling’ is the fact that my period of cycling between mania and depression is, by and large, every two weeks. I say ‘by and large’ as it depends on some external influences (stress for example) but on the whole, it’s fairly rhythmic.
For a person with bipolar, mood has a life of its own due to the fluctuating nature of the various chemicals in the brain.
The extremes of my mood (depressions / highs) are usually self-limiting – they usually only last a few days at most. However, it’s the frequency that can wear you down in the long-term. Obviously, cycling every two weeks means that you will around 25/26 episodes a year.
But it’s not as simple as a pure two week cycle – there can be a daily cycle at times. In the morning, I can have difficulty getting out of bed and can wake up with hangover type conditions despite the fact that I don’t drink alcohol. I can need a lot of water and sugar-based foods to get myself through this but it isn’t always available.
Other days, I have an episode of sort in the mid-morning / lunchtime even though I felt mostly ok in the waking period. This places me in a difficult position when it comes to work as I am expected to carry out my duties that day but I’m stuck in work with the full ravages of my condition. The onset can be fairly sudden.
But then, even on depressed days, I feel better in the evenings so much so that I sound perfectly normal again. This can pose difficulties in respect of attempting to communicate my problems to the world at large as primarily this happens in the evenings. Even mental health professionals comment that I ‘seem ok now’.
The rise of the mood in the evening can translate into difficulties in getting to sleep. I often have to take a sleeping tablet at times like this and when I’m particularly high, one isn’t enough.
I hope this piece has provided you with somewhat of an insight into my condition. I appreciate that mental illness is difficult for a non-sufferer to fully understand but perhaps if everyone read and listened a bit more, some of the mystery will be removed.
PATRICK MERCER (Pseudonym)
What makes it ‘ultra rapid cycling’ is the fact that my period of cycling between mania and depression is, by and large, every two weeks. I say ‘by and large’ as it depends on some external influences (stress for example) but on the whole, it’s fairly rhythmic.
For a person with bipolar, mood has a life of its own due to the fluctuating nature of the various chemicals in the brain.
The extremes of my mood (depressions / highs) are usually self-limiting – they usually only last a few days at most. However, it’s the frequency that can wear you down in the long-term. Obviously, cycling every two weeks means that you will around 25/26 episodes a year.
But it’s not as simple as a pure two week cycle – there can be a daily cycle at times. In the morning, I can have difficulty getting out of bed and can wake up with hangover type conditions despite the fact that I don’t drink alcohol. I can need a lot of water and sugar-based foods to get myself through this but it isn’t always available.
Other days, I have an episode of sort in the mid-morning / lunchtime even though I felt mostly ok in the waking period. This places me in a difficult position when it comes to work as I am expected to carry out my duties that day but I’m stuck in work with the full ravages of my condition. The onset can be fairly sudden.
But then, even on depressed days, I feel better in the evenings so much so that I sound perfectly normal again. This can pose difficulties in respect of attempting to communicate my problems to the world at large as primarily this happens in the evenings. Even mental health professionals comment that I ‘seem ok now’.
The rise of the mood in the evening can translate into difficulties in getting to sleep. I often have to take a sleeping tablet at times like this and when I’m particularly high, one isn’t enough.
I hope this piece has provided you with somewhat of an insight into my condition. I appreciate that mental illness is difficult for a non-sufferer to fully understand but perhaps if everyone read and listened a bit more, some of the mystery will be removed.
PATRICK MERCER (Pseudonym)
Saturday 19 January 2008
Greater awareness the key to removing ‘stigma’ of mental illness
It’s estimated that 25% of the population of Ireland (estimated at 4.1m people, July 2007) will suffer from a mental health issue at some point in their lives. This statistic, featured in a recent advertising campaign, demonstrates the extent of the illness in the wider population. Yet there is a marked lack of awareness and acceptance of this condition in our society generally.
Some people with a mental health issue will only be affected for a few weeks, others a few months. In certain instances, though, people will live with it for a few years or even decades. Approximately 400,000 people, or nearly 10% of the population, suffer from some form of mental illness on a regular basis. Put another way, one in ten of the folk on the street, going about their business as per normal, are in this category.
Even in the worst case scenarios, however, it’s quite feasible that only a limited group of family/friends will really know the full truth. Colleagues at work may know that the person has been off work for a period or periods – but perhaps no more than that.
So why aren’t the general public more aware of this issue? Why does a black cloud still surround it?
A sizeable stigma obviously still persists when it comes to mental health, which seriously impedes the disclosure of the details of the condition by individuals. This stigma affects the communication of the issue to friends, people in work, wider family members and even GPs. In turn, it leads to a lack of understanding and acceptance, and a certain mystification of the condition, amongst the wider public.
Organisations like Aware are doing great work to spread awareness of mental health issues and, in particular, to help people with depression. However, I hope that the current round of media advertising will lead to a better awareness and understanding of the issue by the general public.
Essentially, people fear what they don’t understand. The more informed people are, the less fear there will be of people with these conditions. We must get to a point where it’s just as normal and accepted to say you are depressed as it is to say you have arthritis or high blood pressure. If this item can, in some small way, aid the aims of this advertising campaign, then I feel it will be worthwhile.
It’s important to realise that, for many people, the matter is a long-term one requiring continuous treatment. Most importantly of all, it’s not the choice of the person/patient. He/she is just living with a mental illness – the illness doesn’t define them. We are all far more than our ailments.
PATRICK MERCER (Pseudonym)
Some people with a mental health issue will only be affected for a few weeks, others a few months. In certain instances, though, people will live with it for a few years or even decades. Approximately 400,000 people, or nearly 10% of the population, suffer from some form of mental illness on a regular basis. Put another way, one in ten of the folk on the street, going about their business as per normal, are in this category.
Even in the worst case scenarios, however, it’s quite feasible that only a limited group of family/friends will really know the full truth. Colleagues at work may know that the person has been off work for a period or periods – but perhaps no more than that.
So why aren’t the general public more aware of this issue? Why does a black cloud still surround it?
A sizeable stigma obviously still persists when it comes to mental health, which seriously impedes the disclosure of the details of the condition by individuals. This stigma affects the communication of the issue to friends, people in work, wider family members and even GPs. In turn, it leads to a lack of understanding and acceptance, and a certain mystification of the condition, amongst the wider public.
Organisations like Aware are doing great work to spread awareness of mental health issues and, in particular, to help people with depression. However, I hope that the current round of media advertising will lead to a better awareness and understanding of the issue by the general public.
Essentially, people fear what they don’t understand. The more informed people are, the less fear there will be of people with these conditions. We must get to a point where it’s just as normal and accepted to say you are depressed as it is to say you have arthritis or high blood pressure. If this item can, in some small way, aid the aims of this advertising campaign, then I feel it will be worthwhile.
It’s important to realise that, for many people, the matter is a long-term one requiring continuous treatment. Most importantly of all, it’s not the choice of the person/patient. He/she is just living with a mental illness – the illness doesn’t define them. We are all far more than our ailments.
PATRICK MERCER (Pseudonym)
Friday 11 January 2008
Living with Ultra Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder (Full Unedited Version)
I’ve decided to write a piece describing how I live with my type of bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric disorder marked by alternating episodes of mania and depression and was called manic-depressive illness in the past but this name has now been superseded. My particular type of bipolar disorder is called ‘ultra rapid cycling bipolar disorder’.
What makes it ‘ultra rapid cycling’ is the fact that my period of cycling between mania and depression is, by and large, every two weeks. I say ‘by and large’ as it depends on some external influences (stress for example) but on the whole, it’s fairly rhythmic.
For a person with bipolar, mood has a life of its own due to the fluctuating nature of the various chemicals in the brain.
The extremes of my mood (depressions / highs) are usually self-limiting – they usually only last a few days at most. However, it’s the frequency that can wear you down in the long-term. Obviously, cycling every two weeks means that you will around 25/26 episodes a year.
But it’s not as simple as a pure two week cycle – there can be a daily cycle at times. In the morning, I can have difficulty getting out of bed and can wake up with hangover type conditions despite the fact that I don’t drink alcohol. I can need a lot of water and sugar-based foods to get myself through this but it isn’t always available.
Other days, I have an episode of sort in the mid-morning / lunchtime even though I felt mostly ok in the waking period. This places me in a difficult position when it comes to work as I am expected to carry out my duties that day but I’m stuck in work with the full ravages of my condition. The onset can be fairly sudden.
But then, even on depressed days, I feel better in the evenings so much so that I sound perfectly normal again. This can pose difficulties in respect of attempting to communicate my problems to the world at large as primarily this happens in the evenings. Even mental health professionals comment that I ‘seem ok now’.
The rise of the mood in the evening can translate into difficulties in getting to sleep. I often have to take a sleeping tablet at times like this and when I’m particularly high, one isn’t enough. You also have to bear in mind that in general tablets don’t kick into effect instantly and it can take up to 30 minutes for medication to take full effect. This produces a lag effect and means that the overall sleep duration is cut. This is particularly so if I wake up early in the evening which I am prone to often at this time. Lack of sleep alone has a mood effect so it’s important to tackle this.
The medication themselves have side-effects but I must emphasise that I’m much happier with medication than I would be without it. The main side-effects for my tablets are drowsiness and increased appetite. The drowsiness can be a help in a lot of ways as it helps me to sleep at night. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get up and going in the morning but this certainly isn’t all of the time.
The increased appetite is more of an issue. I feel hungry to some degree all of the time. More correctly, I never really feel full enough. I’ve put on a bit of weight but with discipline, I’ve learnt to manage what I eat. With increased exercise in the future, I hope to reduce some of my excess weight but I intend to do this over time.
I hope this piece has provided you with somewhat of an insight into my condition. I appreciate that mental illness is difficult for a non-sufferer to fully understand but perhaps if everyone read and listened a bit more, some of the mystery will be removed.
PATRICK MERCER (Pseudonym)
What makes it ‘ultra rapid cycling’ is the fact that my period of cycling between mania and depression is, by and large, every two weeks. I say ‘by and large’ as it depends on some external influences (stress for example) but on the whole, it’s fairly rhythmic.
For a person with bipolar, mood has a life of its own due to the fluctuating nature of the various chemicals in the brain.
The extremes of my mood (depressions / highs) are usually self-limiting – they usually only last a few days at most. However, it’s the frequency that can wear you down in the long-term. Obviously, cycling every two weeks means that you will around 25/26 episodes a year.
But it’s not as simple as a pure two week cycle – there can be a daily cycle at times. In the morning, I can have difficulty getting out of bed and can wake up with hangover type conditions despite the fact that I don’t drink alcohol. I can need a lot of water and sugar-based foods to get myself through this but it isn’t always available.
Other days, I have an episode of sort in the mid-morning / lunchtime even though I felt mostly ok in the waking period. This places me in a difficult position when it comes to work as I am expected to carry out my duties that day but I’m stuck in work with the full ravages of my condition. The onset can be fairly sudden.
But then, even on depressed days, I feel better in the evenings so much so that I sound perfectly normal again. This can pose difficulties in respect of attempting to communicate my problems to the world at large as primarily this happens in the evenings. Even mental health professionals comment that I ‘seem ok now’.
The rise of the mood in the evening can translate into difficulties in getting to sleep. I often have to take a sleeping tablet at times like this and when I’m particularly high, one isn’t enough. You also have to bear in mind that in general tablets don’t kick into effect instantly and it can take up to 30 minutes for medication to take full effect. This produces a lag effect and means that the overall sleep duration is cut. This is particularly so if I wake up early in the evening which I am prone to often at this time. Lack of sleep alone has a mood effect so it’s important to tackle this.
The medication themselves have side-effects but I must emphasise that I’m much happier with medication than I would be without it. The main side-effects for my tablets are drowsiness and increased appetite. The drowsiness can be a help in a lot of ways as it helps me to sleep at night. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get up and going in the morning but this certainly isn’t all of the time.
The increased appetite is more of an issue. I feel hungry to some degree all of the time. More correctly, I never really feel full enough. I’ve put on a bit of weight but with discipline, I’ve learnt to manage what I eat. With increased exercise in the future, I hope to reduce some of my excess weight but I intend to do this over time.
I hope this piece has provided you with somewhat of an insight into my condition. I appreciate that mental illness is difficult for a non-sufferer to fully understand but perhaps if everyone read and listened a bit more, some of the mystery will be removed.
PATRICK MERCER (Pseudonym)
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