Celebrities with Depression and Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder Personal Stories
The Independent of London (UK) reported this week that the following UK and US celebrities have talked openly about their mental illnesses:

1. Dame Kelly Holmes: Athlete "I became depressed and I cut my self with scissors and stuff."

2. Sinead O'Connor: Musician "I had developed manic depression [bipolar disorder] ... and the main symptoms the constant voice in the head telling you to kill yourself."

3. Hugh Laurie: Actor "It gets on top of me and I get frustrated."

4. Caroline Aherne: Actress "I try to piece together what I did and why I did it, but it's just a big blackout."

5. Robbie Williams: Singer "I've really been grappling with depression. It's all linked with my cocaine and ecstasy abuse."

6. Stephen Fry: Actor and director "I may have looked happy but inside Iwas hopelessly depressed."

7. Tony Slattery: Comedian "There's psychomotor agitation, where you're endlessly pacing, and you can't sleep and you're short-tempered."

8. Gail Porter: TV presenter "It's horrible, horrible, horrible. It took a year and a half until I found out that I had post-natal depression."

9. Brooke Shields: Actress "I just felt as though I would never be happy again, and as if I had fallen into a big black hole."

10. Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard):Musician "When I was sectioned for six months, that was one of the worst experiences of my life, not being able to go out and have freedom. Having experienced it, it's almost inexplicably awful."

11. Ruby Wax: TV presenter "Depressions are very cyclical, they happen once every five years. When I was on TV, yes I was effervescent, you can't fake it. It [depression] comes like the pox."

12. Richard Dreyfuss: Actor "I said to my doctor, 'You gotta testme, there's something wrong with me that I would be behaving this way.'"

13. Sarah Lancashire: Actress "My twenties were a writeoff. It's a cruel illness, because you can't see it and you can hide it so well."

14. Graeme Obree: Cyclist "When you're depressed, everything becomes distorted."

15.Winona Ryder: Actress "You have good days and bad days, and depression's something that, you know, is always with you."

16. Sophie Anderton: Model "I think it backfired. It wasn't what I expected, it was difficult. I didn't expect them to throw somany mind games into it. I didn't expect to be so emotional, but I asked for it really. I'ma glutton for punishment."

17. Denise Welch: Actress "I lost all sense of reality. I basically had what was a nervous break down."

18. Lenny Henry: Comedian "That' swhere depression hits you most - your home life. It doesn't affect your work. I can't do this zany, wacky, funny thing any more. I haven't been like that for a long time."

19.Mel C: Former Spice Girl "At the back of my mind there is always a fear the depression could return but I do all the right things. I try to get the right amount of sleep because I know that I need sleep to function and I need to eat properly and to do some exercising."

20.Melinda Messenger: Model and TV presenter "I felt suicidal. I couldn't stop crying. I remember thinking, 'wouldn't it be great if the car crashed and I died?'"

21. Bill Oddie: TV presenter "Chemicals will help you and medication will help you perhaps overcome it initially, but it won't work permanently if you don't follow it up with quite intense psychoanalysis of some sort."

22. Linda Hamilton: Hollywood actress "The lows were absolutely horrible. It was like falling into a manhole and not being able to lift the lid and climb out."

23. Trisha Goddard: TV presenter "I was in danger of having my children taken away from me when I needed five weeks in psychiatric care ... There is the smiling depressive which is the biggest time bomb and when they go they usually go with a bang, which was me ..."

24. James Dean Bradfield: Manic Street Preachers "I became a completely dysfunctional, miserable person, completely uncommunicative and aggressive."

25. Jim Carrey: Actor "I was on Prozac for a long time. It may have helped me out of a jam for a little bit, but people stay on it forever."

26. Ben Moody: Musician "I was horribly depressed, and I felt like I had failed as a band leader, a professional, as a person."

27. Keisha Buchanan: Singer, Sugababes "With depression, you can go in and out of it and not really know whether it's still there or not. Sometimes I'd find myself bursting into tears for no reason."

28. Carrie Fisher: Actress "Mania starts off fun, not sleeping for days, keeping company with your brain, which has become a wonderful computer, showing 24 TV channels all about you. That goes horribly wrong after awhile."

29. Neil Lennon: Footballer "It's a bit like walking down a long, dark corridor never knowing when the light will go on."

30. Lord Bragg: Broadcaster, author and president of Mind "Occasionally now I feel a wang that goes in my head - once you've got it you've got it. The [illness] was quite severe, leaving me deeply unhappy and frightened."

31.Meg Mathews: Noel Gallagher's ex-wife On the recent news of her going into rehab: "I can confirm Meg is receiving treatment. She is suffering from depression and needs time out."

32. Ben Stiller: Actor "I have not been an easygoing guy. I think it's called bipolar manic depression. I've got a rich history of that in my family."

33. Frank Bruno: Ex-boxer "It's like a kettle. If it's a kettle, you turn the kettle off, you know what I mean? I wish I could put a hole in my head and let the steam come out. The pressure was just getting a little bit much for me."

34. Russell Grant: TV presenter "It is amaze of total confusion ...it can get to the point where you don't care if you live or die."

35. Katie Price/Jordan: Model "I was a psycho woman. It felt like something in me that I had no control over."

36. Paul Gascoigne: Footballer "Everywhere I looked life seemed to be full of problems and they were just going to go on and on. It was never going to get any better."

37. Kylie Minogue: Singer "You get such a kick and then it's all over. That's good ground for uncertainty and depression. I usually burst into tears."

38. Jack Dee: Comedian "Depression is something that has always figured in my life but now I'm dealing with it. I wish I'd done this years ago because it's been really helpful."

39. Uma Thurman: Actress "Nobody seemed to have any perspective any longer. Those were low points. But we got through it."

40. George Michael: Singer "It was like I had a curse on me. I couldn't believe how much God was piling on. There was so much death around me."

Mental Health Events in Canada

http://www.cwlc.ca/publica_e.htm

Out of the Shadows At Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addictions Services in Canada
By Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and TechnologyIt is the culmination of extensive national consultations on mental health and illness in Canada. The report outlines a spectrum of concerns with a full chapter dedicated to child and youth mental health. The issues are effectively illustrated through the descriptions of individuals’ experiences.

Full report available at www.parl.gc.ca/common/Committee_SenRecentReps.asp?Language=E&Parl=39&Ses=1




http://www.cwlc.ca/events_e.htm

Certificate in Infant Mental Health Program
This 120-hour non-degree credit Certificate Program is directed to a variety of practitioners and service providers, who wish to acquire essential knowledge and practical skills to work effectively with infants and their families.Co-sponsors: Infant Mental Health Promotion; Hospital for Sick Children and Ontario Association for Infant DevelopmentSummer 2006 and Winter 2007Program and brochure information: www.atkinson.yorku.ca/~dce/Programs/Certificates/IMH/IMHBrochure.pdf




http://www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/

Click Here To Register Today!
Please click on a topic below to view conference information

4th International Multidisciplinary Conference on Spirituality & Health [Further Information] November 9-11, 2006

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder - Biennial Conference [Further Information including Call for Abstracts] March 8-10, 2007

Diabetes Educator Course (Further information will be avaliable in September)
March 26-29, 2007

Healthy Foundations for People with Developmental Disabilities (rescheduled)



http://www.cwlc.ca/events_e.htm

“Policing Tomorrow’s World” - International Association of Women Police Annual Training Conference
Keynote speaker is Dave Pelzer, the author of several books including A Child Called “It”. At the age of 12, Dave was saved from severe physical and emotional abuse. Dave’s presentation in Saskatoon will combine two of his programs, “Help Yourself” and “The Real Heroes” – a tribute to the people that saved him – teachers, social workers and police officers.Hosted by: Saskatoon Police Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Law Enforcement Training Society of SaskatchewanSeptember 17 – 21, 2006Saskatoon, SKInformation: http://www.iawp2006.com/,
Brochure


Worldforum 2006
November 19 – 22, 2006
Vancouver, BC
This international conference will explore and share knowledge, information, data and on promising practices and innovative approaches to prevention and response to child abuse and neglect.
Call for Papers – February 20 – April 21.
Visit the website for more details!

MINDSCAPES NB -Submission Deadline - September 1st, Show October 23rd until November 10th

MINDSCAPES NB
The Canadian Mental Health Association NB Division along with its partners will be holding a three week long exhibit of mental health consumer art at Old Government House, 51 Woodstock Road, Fredericton. It will be open to the public weekdays from 10am to 5pm beginning October 23rd through to November 10th, 2006.

Those artists that may have participated in CMHA National’s past Mindscapes events may have seen its impact on increasing awareness of Canadians at large and political decision-makers in particular of the needs of our many fellow citizens living with mental health problems.
The selection criteria that we will be applying will be originality and the personal nature of the artist’s expression. We are looking for works which may be drawings, paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, or three-dimensional works. We hope to show artists from across the province.

Reproductions of the submissions must be received no later than September 1st, 2006. The jury will accept colour photographs or digital reproductions. They can be e-mailed to cmhanb@nbnet.nb.ca or mailed to: CMHA NB Division403 Regent Street, Suite 202Fredericton, NB E3B 3X6

There will be no exhibit fee and no re-numeration paid to the artists. Artists will not be able to sell their works of art while displayed in the gallery.

All art will be returned to the artists. Arrangements for shipping of selected works can be made with CMHA-NB and its partners.

For further information, contact CMHA-NB at 455-5231 or cmhanb@nbnet.nb.ca.

Mental Illness Awareness Week – October 1-7, 2006

Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) is an annual national public education campaign designed to help open the eyes of Canadians to the reality of mental illness. The week was established in 1992 by the Canadian Psychiatric Association, and is now coordinated by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) in cooperation with all its member organizations and many other supporters across Canada.
Campaign elements include: a grassroots public education initiative; a nationally-distributed poster and bookmark series; the 4th Annual Champions of Mental Health Awards luncheon in Ottawa and an education initiative with federal Members of Parliament, both in their home ridings and on Parliament Hill.

Senate Committee Recommending Nickel-a-Drink Tax Funding Plan for Illness Focus

You may have missed this CP story out of Ottawa, published in most newspapers recently on a Senate Committee recommendation in Ottawa to consider having Canadians pay a nickel a drink to help the mentally ill.

If you have a comment or reaction to this story, please click on the comments section and I will post them as part of a discussion of whether this is an idea worth supporting, or not.

Here's the CP Newswire story.

After three years' work and consultation, the committee is calling on the government to invest half a billion dollars annually in support and housing for people with mental illness, paying for it with a tax on alcoholic drinks.

In a report - May 2006, the committee recommended the creation of a national agency to help the mentally ill, and 57,000 affordable housing units for people living with mental illness. "The stories we heard moved us to tears," said Liberal Senator Michael Kirby, chair of the committee.

"They also angered us because it shows clearly how little governments have done over the years for people living with a mental illness". "Canadians living with mental illness confront a confusing, fragmented and under-resourced system. The situation is so bad that only one third of the people receive professional help."

The committee has already made public its key recommendation, the creation of a Canadian Mental Health Commission.

The previous Liberal government said it would move on the idea but the Conservatives haven't stated their intentions. Health Minister Tony Clement said Tuesday he would need time to study the committee's 118 recommendations.

"We can no longer tolerate a situation in which governments place mental health issues on a permanent back burner," said Kirby.

The report reaffirms the view, which has become generally accepted in the last few decades, that people with psychiatric problems can be treated more effectively in their communities than in institutions. But Kirby said there has been a failure to provide community services for people who were once kept in hospitals.

"The reality is that in Canada today the homeless and prisons have become the asylums of the 21st Century. We moved people out of institutions without having the other care facilities available for them. "The data show very clearly that the percentage of homeless with a mental illness is very high."

Kirby said a national agency makes sense even though health is under provincial jurisdiction. "This is not a federal government issue. This is an issue of trying to get all the players together to help get it done."

The committee proposes a five-cent increase in the excise tax on alcoholic drinks - a nickel a beer, 25 cents for a bottle of wine - to fund mental-health initiatives. The proposed new agency would undertake a 10-year campaign to combat discrimination against the mentally ill. The report says a fifth of the population will experience mental illness at some point.

Do you think that this increased tax funding approach has any appeal or relevace to us here in New Brunswick ?

I will review and respond to every post as part of our Blog on About Mental Health.

Here is a current and partial list of organizations that specialize in Health in Greater Moncton .

If your organization is missing, contact me at the following email address nadine@localintheknow.com