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The Forum: Mental Health

Mental Health

18/08/2012

BBC Radio 4 - The Forum, Mental Health

Global ideas on tackling mental illness, in a discussion led by Bridget Kendall.

Mental illness can take many different forms, but Bridget Kendall's guests say that everyone who suffers needs to be able to tell their story.

One in three of us will be affected by mental illness at some time during our lifetime. It can take various forms from the most common - depression, to psychotic illness. Kendall's guests explore the way mental illness is viewed and treated around the world, and what can be done to help.

The Indian psychiatrist Vikram Patel is at the forefront of a campaign to promote global mental health. His non-governmental organization in Goa pioneers ways to treat mental health problems in places with few resources, a theme he has also written about in his book "Where There's No Psychiatrist".

Matthew Johnstone is an artist and writer based in Sydney. He first experienced depression in his mid-20s and he describes how he tried to cover it up so he could continue his successful advertising career. In his bestselling illustrated book "I Had a Black Dog", Johnstone used the character of a black Labrador to communicate his experience. He now works part-time as the Creative Director of the Black Dog Institute in Australia.

Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist at Broadmoor, Britain's highest security institution for offenders with mental disorders, well known in Britain because it's where the country's most notorious killers are sent if the court declares them "criminally insane'. She believes that learning to tell your own story is the key to getting to grips with all sorts of mental illness, even for her patients.

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