Living with a mental illness is hard enough without all the extra baggage that stigma brings. Here are 7 reasons I refuse to let stigma make me feel ashamed
Has stigma improved over the last 5 years?
By 1in4 Has stigma improved? It’s one of the vital questions when it comes to tackling the currently ever-increasing mental health epidemic. Anyone who has ever suffered from a mental health condition is likely to tell you that stigma has played a large part in their journey. Perhaps it stopped Continue Reading
10 things you learn and need to remember during recovery
By Tom Wavre Recently I have been fortunate enough to start a strong period of recovery from my depression and anxiety. It has been a long journey to get to where I am today, the fight has often been hard but I am starting to see the light at the Continue Reading
8 Ways I’m Grateful for my Depression
By Tom Wavre Obviously before I even start, on balance I am NOT grateful for my depression. No positives would outweigh the loss of self, the emptiness, the overwhelming soul-sucking nature of depression. Depression makes you lose a piece of who you are, it’s a killer, it deceives you, it Continue Reading
Why don’t we spend more on mental health care?
Real terms spending on mental health is in a steady decrease. Let’s put this in context. The number of people being diagnosed is on the increase, the number of people suffering (or at very least being open enough for us to learn of it) is increasing. The WHO state that Continue Reading
Mental Health in the Workplace – Challenging the Status Quo
By Tom Wavre I work for a large global organisation who are good at many things but do not have any policies around mental health in the workplace. I’d like to share with you a presentation that you are free to use yourself. This presentation has helped to reshape the Continue Reading
5 days without taking my medication – What I Learnt
By Tom Wavre Recently, I accidentally went 5 days without taking my medication. I fight depression and to a lesser extent anxiety, and have been helped in this by 20mg of citalopram every day for around 2 1/2 years. Though with no relation to this article I have recently switched Continue Reading
Mental Health Stigma? Let’s do NOTHING
One in 4 people will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their life and I want you to join me in pledging to do absolutely nothing about it Quarter of the people you know will suffer at some point from depression, stress, anxiety or other mental illnesses, Continue Reading
We Are 1 in 4
Thank you. To everyone who has read, liked, shared, followed, commented, contributed, agreed, disagreed or done anything other than show apathy. Thank you. I started 1in4 back in the summer, with the aim of chipping away at the stigma around mental health and showing people that they are not alone, Continue Reading
Hiding Depression at Work
For a long time I hid my true self, firstly from myself and then from those I worked with. I work in marketing for a fairly large firm and depression was impacting my ability to do my job. A tight deadline could still get me to do what was required Continue Reading
Univited He Returned Home
A full year had past since I last saw him. I forget when we first met though we seem to have been part of each others lives for years. To be honest, years spent trying to break free of his all consuming grip. Easier said than done, he could be Continue Reading
Depression: A Rose By Any Other Name…
The richness of the English language with the word play we can create around it is a joy. But when we lose sight of the true meaning behind these words, we can cause great misunderstanding and, in some examples, pain and suffering and this is certainly true of words such as depression, stress and anxiety.