Black Dog

     Catching a snippet of the local television news this evening a woman in a high responsibility council job won record damages for Industrial Injury (circa £300,000) for depression caused through stress in the job. I think it was a counter claim as she was sued for a million for not declaring she was prone to depression at the outset.  Tricky situation and many would argue that a high profile job would demand a person with robust mental health and that the judgment would also send a signal out to employers not to touch with a bargepole anyone suffering a history of depression. So what do you do? Lie about it on the application form?  However, regarding this particular case others on high salaries do tend to justify their pay as commensurate with their ability to deal with high stress.

    Many people suffering from depression actually work to an exceptionally high level of ability and  conscientiousness but there is still the stigma. I actually believe that one should be honest despite the risk.  I was able to convalesce on full pay for two thirds of a year by a compassionate employer (Millfield School where I was teaching) in 1970 at the age of 23 but nobody threatened anyone with court action or pointed fingers but it was simply a gesture and out of gratitude I returned to the job a year later before leaving school teaching. At the time the breakdown was so severe I was lucky to be able to take in food.

   I read not long ago of the case of a man in  the USA who won half a million dollars for the 'emotional damage' of losing his mother early in his life. My mother died in childbirth as a result of blatant hospital neglect. she bled to death. That would have made me a comfortable millionaire!

   What is surely needed is a more compassionate but pragmatic approach to mental health. The statistic is one in six suffer mental health problems. I take some comfort amidst the shame of suffering crippling depression that Churchill suffered  'The black Dog' Someone told me Spike Milligan wrote his epitaph 'I told you I was ill' and that lightening sharp witted comedian on Not the Nine O'Clock News - Paul Merton has also suffered severe depression.

   Not that I would wish depression on my enemy but apparantly there is a high correlation with highly intelligent creative people succumbing to it.  A small comfort to me in that my father regarded me as completely stupid until the day he died!

   High achievers often fall into two categories - encouraged by competitive parents or suffering so starkly in low self-esteem they continually try to prove they are at least worthy! Possibly the former also applies in the child wanting to be noticed by over-competitive parents. Over a lifetime of seeking therapy and finding little help, the best tonic in my opinion for 'The Black Dog' is to get a dog (my little dog is the best human being I know) and enjoy good sex - but not with the dog please!