Rich, poor: does it make any difference to a depressive?

I have recently had some interesting debates with people on social networks, and in real life, about mental health, with particular regard to how it affects people from different social settings.

It’s a subject that is, for many, still taboo.

As a lifelong mentally ill person, I have very much welcomed the recent coming out of various sports and media people.

When you have a mental illness, not only can you feel there is no hope, you can also believe you are all alone.  That’s certainly how I feel during episodes.

The likes of the cricketer Marcus Trescothick and the multi-talented Stephen Fry have put their illnesses out there for people to see.

To me, it’s a simple thing: depression and its friends do not draw a distinction in wealth.  The grey dog doesn’t care who he – and I am guessing it’s a he – infects.

Social networks, like twitter and Facebook, are probably not the best places to debate complex issues and I really should try not to but I have. 

I think it is easier for the rich and famous to deal with mental illness.

It is because of their wealth and fame but more what that money can buy.

Now look at me, although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that.

I’ve had my fair share, far more than my fair share, of mental health counselling, therapy and drugs over a period of 40-odd years but it’s not much really.

It’s helped, for sure, but once it’s over, it’s over.  The NHS has so much it can do for you and once you reach a certain point, that’s it, short of being sectioned and not all of us have quite reached that stage, well not yet anyway.

My last therapy ended last year and there’s nothing left unless I go private.

I did look at that, seeing a mental health practitioner from the profit sector, but when I saw the costs, I took a step back.  I’d have needed to go into debt to afford more treatment which I suspect I’d have found stressful and possibly a little depressing.  D’oh.

The more affluent can buy additional treatment which may not cure all of them but will in many instances have a positive effect.  They can even take time off their chosen occupation and hardly suffer financially at all.  Those of us at the basement of the earnings league have no such luxury.

So I don’t decry the rich and famous when they reveal their mental illnesses: I welcome them to this miserable place and hope they escape it.

But the truth is that mental illness is not taken seriously in this country, resources are minimal and sometimes non existent and many people struggle on – or not – with no help at all.