Mental heath issue - Conspiracy of silence

MENTAL health problems are part of the hidden Ireland and nowhere is the stigma more likely to be swept under the carpet than when a mother has to cope with this problem in isolation, concealing her dark secret from friends and neighbours.

Instead of being helped, mothers afflicted in this way face the challenge of presenting a normal face to the world despite the burden of mental problems. The issue is compounded because they are the unwitting victims of a “conspiracy of silence” involving healthcare practitioners and women in general.

Another difficulty is that the scale of the problem here is still unclear. As Professor Agnes Higgins says, mothers who suffer mental illness feel isolated and afraid to talk about the problem for fear their child might be taken away from them.

This lends significance to the search for 40 women willing to be interviewed about the reality of living with a stigma that continues to bedevil Irish families despite considerable efforts to inform society about the nature of mental illness.

Rather than talking about this issue in negative tones, we should deal with it positively. Instead of being made to feel under surveillance, these women ought to be helped by the community and their strength and resilience recognised. At an early stage in pregnancy, psychological services should be readily available for them and the healthcare system should be more supportive.