Lifting the veil on mental illness

Press, 19 April 1989, Page 19

Lifting the veil on mental illness

Helen wanted everything all at once. It was not that she was selfish, just that she expected perfection — of herself. She was the perfect wife, helping her husband on the farm; the tireless mother with three spotless children and involved in Playcentre; the responsible worker, nursing at the local hospital.

When she became suicidal, her friends were shocked and surprised. She was admitted to Sunnyside Hospital after suffering from severe depression and was there seven weeks.

Helen tells her' story on a new weekly radio programme starting on Plains FM tomorrow evening at 7.30. Called “Understanding Mental Health,” it aims to shed new light on the old taboo of mental illness. Helen talks about what happened to her in hospital.

In the weeks following, the programme will look at the roles of the people with whom a patient like Helen comes into contact. What, for instance, is a physiotherapist doing in a psychiatric institution?

“Understanding Mental Health” also contains news from related services and groups; a noticeboard of meetings and events; book reviews and information about where specific help might be found.

A former television and radio journalist, Shona Geary, will produce and present the programmes. She has had wide experience as a health journalist for Radio New Zealand and more recently has worked as a senior journalist for Television New Zealand in Christchurch. Mental health services account for 23 per cent of the health budget of the Canterbury Hospital

Board, yet stigma is still attached to psychiatric car, Ms Geary says. People know little about it and tend to make misguided assumptions. With more information it is hoped they will come to respect mental illness and its treatment, she says.

The radio venture is the first of its kind in New Zealand to be initiated by a hospital. The superintendent of Sunnyside Hospital, Dr Les Ding, says he believes the time is right to inform people fully about what is going on in Canterbury. The hospital is one link. “Understanding Mental Health” also provides a voice for support groups, the families of the mentally ill, and visiting overseas experts. Funding for the project has been provided by the pharmaceutical company, Squibb (New Zealand), Ltd.