I suffered a bout of catastrophic depression that put me in a psychiatric hospital for six months at age 15.
I was very lucky, there was a proper psychiatric hospital not too far from where I lived and plenty of spare capacity in it. These days with the tory scum slashing budgets for every NHS service, if the same happened today, I'm sure that I'd just be left to commit suicide (I lived conveniently close to Beachy Head; Britain's No 1 suicide spot).
Unfortunately, it left me and I'm sure it leaves other people who have been through something similar, with a lifelong fear of relapsing into that terrifying dark place. I also carried the stigma of serious mental illness with me, for a lot of my working life!
I'm 73 now and (fingers crossed) I haven't relapsed but I guess I'm still defending against it!
Here in states, best I can tell, they have gotten rid of all mental hospitals. Hopefully here in the #Fediverse we can keep each other smiling and be able to vent about it if needed. Cheers.
Add comment