THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

 Forget chimps, elephants and giant pandas. If there were a zoo for the mentally ill, Taronga would be bankrupt in a month. Queues of families, friends, teenagers and seniors’ groups would wait patiently each day for the gates to open.  

Freed from social norms and motherly advice “not to stare”, we’d gather around the depressive’s enclosure gawking happily. Look there, behind that bush! It’s a grown man sobbing silently. And there’s another one in the corner, a young woman curled in a foetal position. Okay, now come on, let’s go see the schizophrenics. Apparently, they haven’t been on their meds for weeks! This is going to be good.

 On and on it would go. Down in the bipolar pens half the inmates would be chattering away as if on speed, arranging and rearranging their food bowls, believing they can singlehandedly save the world and humping one another indiscriminately. As for the other half, they’d be sleeping 20 hours a day while the other four hours would be devoted to stockpiling their meds and planning how to neck themselves.

 The fact is that while mental health is as dull as dishwater, mental illness is fascinating. But unfortunately, most of those that suffer rarely say a word. I’m not suggesting we constantly cry poor-me but the more of us who share our insights in an interesting manner, the more “normal” and less stigmatizing it becomes. After all, stigmas come from ignorance so the more we all know, the less judgmental we are.  

 The longwinded point to this? Those of us who suffer should be more prepared to speak out and make our own workplace recommendations rather than leave it all to the well-intentioned, yet not always effective efforts of middle management and HR departments. Who knows? The rest of our workmates may just be interested enough to listen.

 The following insights are pretty beige, but hey, they’re a start:https://www.sane.org/mental-health-and-illness/facts-and-guides/fvm-mental-illness-basics