Needing Ideas

Hi @Jo

The issues I feel are important to cover and bring awareness to the triggers/causes, plight and suffering of those who struggle with depression, anxiety, distress, despair, low self esteem, suicide ideation, and various mental illnesses on all scales are:-

1. Physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse "happening in the home" and the lasting mental scars this can afflict. Whether this be abuse of parent to child, child/teenager/adult child to parents (this is such a neglected and overlooked area of abuse), between siblings, extended family members, husband/wife's/partners - domestic violence/emotional violence, indifference (being left out, demeaned) and neglect in the home. This issue to some degree has been one of the most overwhelming factors causing so many here to flee for support on SANE.

2. Financial hardship, poverty, unemployment and homelessness - the consequential stressors on mental and physical health (both work together) and the helplessness and hopelessness experienced by those struggling this way that can cause depression.

3. Bullying at school, in the home and in the workplace. And how such can totally erode self esteem leading to suicidal ideation, substance abuse and relationship struggles later on.

4. Another very overlooked area of triggers Of depression/anxiety; "unnatural losses":- estrangement of family members/friends, abandonment, homicide, missing persons, sudden death through accidents, divorce/relationship breakups and those who lost loved ones by suicide.

5. Loneliness, lack of support and social connections (big trigger for depression - especially in the elderly who have the biggest suicide rate); and having no friends/no social connections; low confidence and low self worth. Sometimes caused by being extremely untidy/poor hygiene in ones environment can make potential friends/partner flee (rubbish, hoarding).

6. Medical disorders that can cause depression/anxiety such as hormonal imbalances, thyroid disorders, brain injuries, Parkinson disease, vitamin deficiencies, unhealthy lifestyle, lack of exercise sleep etc.

7. Negative thinking and outlook - overworrying; focusing on doom/gloom/dread. Overlooking the good.

8. Suppression of painful memories and stressors - not talking about it or effectively dealing with issues can cause To tip one over.

9. Traumatic events - either personally effected or witnessing which may cause PTSD (the police would understand this one).

10. Having a reasonably good life, no particular stressors but feeling a relentless "inner emptiness" - lack of meaning in ones life.

Depression/MI is usually a variety of ills and never a singular factor. The more complex the triggers/causes (a few or all the above) - the worse/the more complex the mental illness.

These are some of the issues that come to mind. Interviewing sufferers who are willing to share their plight/story from "all walks of life", "both genders", and "all ages" (the elderly are often forgotten having statistically the highest suicide rate); interviewing such people struggling in differing situations as mentioned above (not just one section of the community but as diverse as possible so as to support as many as possible); is very effective on drawing in the interest of others, bringing awareness of the mental health suffering in society and the enlightenment to why,- may help others to relate, feel empathy and reduce the stigma.

I wish your friend the best with his/her's documentary.

Yes, I think it's very important to reveal how different the mental health wards are compared to the physical health wards. The Northern Hospital at Epping is a classic example of this.

Thanks for all those excellent suggestions. I think your idea of interviewing people from all walks of life is very important. I think it would be great to include the homeless sleeping on our streets who have burnt all bridges with their families and friends due to their illness, as well as highly educated, articulate professional people. Thanks very much for that.Fantastic point.

Yes, I think this is such an important point. Education in schools. A couple of years ago I spoke at a high school about mental health and the kids were really interested and asked so many questions, we went way overtime into their lunch hour, but they didn't care. It was an amazing response. It just proved to me how important this is but hardly any schools include this subject in their curriculums.

Hi @Jo

Your welcome. Just to point out that highly educated, articulate professional people can end up on the streets due to mental breakdowns/chronic stress/substance abuse/bankrupcy as well - Harriet Wran comes to mind. I knew of a homeless person who died on the streets where I use to live that was a scholar in his day, but life took a cruel turn. All the best with the documentary 🙂

Yes, I'm well aware of this sad fact. There is one guy at the soup kitchen where I work who used to be a well off bank manager who lost everything; home, family and all his money. He comes to eat but also helps out a lot. There's such a huge variety of people living on the streets and in cheap boarding houses who live with mental illness. Every single one has a story. So sad.

No worries, Jo. You might want to check out the company Mindstar (they have a Facebook page) for a good example of what the future might look like.