This short essay is an attempt to answer the question ‘what can be done to make it easier for people with mental distress to get involved in left-wing politics?’. As such it needs to be stated at the start that the essay is a complete failure; it raises a lot of questions and issues but …
Category: depression
A Collation of Links
This entry is somewhat remarkable in that consists solely of links to other people’s blog entries with almost no discussion or intervention. I do most heartily commend all of the pieces, but admit that it also functions as an easy historical record for me of a period in which I have not blogged. I suppose …
A Sick Society
The attack on sickness benefits has been going on for a number of years but has been vastly accelerated by the LibCons. This attack is both a personal and political matter for me. It has been brilliantly covered in a number of articles by HarpyMarx which I link to below. I wanted however to both …
September Miscellany (2010)
September has been a very good month. A score of 7.07 on the Depression Scale which is the second highest ever and by far the best September. This may be partly because I am now marking more generously. It may also be partly because there is always something of a positive reaction when I emerge …
Game Therapy
As usual during an extended illness one of my chief weapons in staving off the emptiness and despair has been video games. I believe that much more serious consideration needs to be given to the therapeutic role which they can play for depressives. It is of course highly unlikely that this will happen given the …
My Annus Horribilis
This entry attempts to explain why my blogs have fallen silent for the past 6 months and is therefore mainly of personal interest, although I include some cogitation on the barriers to those with MH issues getting involved in campaigning for better services etc., and also a brief summary of what I have been doing …
Me from myself – to banish (OP)
22nd August 2005 Here is another poem that was posted on the Women Writers list... Me from Myself -- to banish -- Had I Art -- Impregnable my Fortress Unto All Heart -- But since Myself -- assault Me -- How have I peace Except by subjugating Consciousness? And since We're mutual Monarch How this …
Having It Out With Melancholy (OP)
8th August 2005 On a Yahoo list I am on someone posted this poem... Having it Out with Melancholy by Jane Kenyon 1 FROM THE NURSERY When I was born, you waited behind a pile of linen in the nursery, and when we were alone, you lay down on top of me, pressing the bile …
Cognitive Behaiour Therapy (OP)
4th May 2006 A brilliant article by Magnus Linklater in The Times (3/5/06) on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy... >>Freud-lite: the ideal modern cure Magnus Linklater “WHAT PROGRESS we are making!” said Sigmund Freud. “In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.” You were overoptimistic, I fear, Dr …
Let Us Praise Negativity (OP)
I was in some doubt whether to reproduce this post as it is one area in which my experiences have, to some extent, modified my perceptions. Certainly I have come to have a different view of the Positive Mental Health Group, or more accurately its members and the work they did. On the other hand …
Moving Toyshop 