Who's a loony??

Hi and welcome to Life as a Loony.

So why such a provocative name for a blog? Am just being rude and insensitive, mocking people with mental health issues? Not at all.

Allow me to explain.

First and foremost, I suffer from depression and have done for some years. When a doctor sent me off to a psychiatric ward at a local hospital, I was devastated. Off to the loony farm I thought to myself.

There was a quite good series by the BBC some years ago that revolved around patients in an English psychiatric facility. At one point the patients held a fair. One of the ringleaders ran a Spot the Loony competition. Various couples took to a stand and the public were invited to work out which of them was the mental health sufferer. There was a wonderful scene with this ringleader standing next to the late Spike Milligan. This was of course a trick - the patient in the story was suffering from bi-polar illness (what we used to call a manic-depressive) and Milligan was frankly famous for his own bi-polar illness. Milligan described himself at his worst as being (*&^ing insane. So if one of my comedic heros can fondly describe himself as a loony, then I can as well.

So what is this blog about? Well one of the difficulties I have had is understanding depression, its treatment, medications and more. Plus there is such an awful amount of misinformation out there. Not to mention that the public is not always the most understanding of those with mental health issues. Depression is an isidious thing that frankly you often have to experience to understand it. My aim with this blog is to help share information, reveal what I have learned, describe my own experiences and hopefully get to share other people's positive experiences.

Despite the odd title, this is supposed to be a positive blog experience. Hopefully you will come along on the ride as we see where it takes us.