Nobody talked about mental health when my mother was diagnosed with depression in the 1970s.
“What’s she got to be depressed about?” people asked.
Today, there is no need for a reason. We now understand that depression – indeed any mental health disorder – can happen for no reason, and it can happen to anyone of any background, education, creed or colour.
Her journey has probably been made a little easier because we are talking about mental health and OCD; more people understand it, and there are more and better treatment options.
In mum’s case, the whispering behind closed doors must have made her experience even harder than it had to be, and much more isolating.
