You will find that people will look at you differently, you may feel uncomfortable but youre making a statement and standing up to mental health and doing your part to stamp out the stigma. It seems that in Ireland mental health issues is one of the last great taboos and there remains a stigma attached to seeking help. This is the reason IrishCentral sought to focus on the issue this week. CEO of St. Patricks Mental Health Services, Paul Gilligan, explained that, Thirtyfive percent of 18 to 34-year-olds surveyed said the embarrassment they felt about having a mental illness was an obstacle to seeking help. We know that education and early intervention is the key to helping our young people.
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Eastern Congo grapples with mental health catastrophe after years of war
He sits on a lump of volcanic rock outside a church in Goma and beats himself repeatedly. After his father was killed in the first Congo war, Nzenze spent one night talking nonsense and has spoken only once since. He was good at school, his mother says. He spoke last year, when she wanted to use his old exam papers to light a fire. “He cried out and stopped me.” Displaced this year for the fourth time, he camps on the edge of a slum, taking prescription sedatives every night and sleeping on lumps of volcanic rock.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/05/eastern-congo-mental-health-catastrophe-brutality
Liz Strauss 