People need real human interaction if we are to stave off mental illness

Last Friday was World Mental Health Day. On the previous Friday, you published an article on mental illness, by Mr Paul Gilligan, CEO of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, entitled “Stigma of mental illness unfair and crude”.

Nowhere in his article did Mr Gilligan mention prevention.

We can prevent people from becoming mentally ill. Mental illness often begins with distress, ie a perception that an issue or life-event is unbearable and insoluble. This issue could be loneliness; it could be a financial; it could be something else.

People can prevent mental distress in themselves and in others by reaching out and talking to each other. When I say ‘talking’, I don’t just mean talking when we’re in difficulty. I mean talking, chatting, making conversation.

People are avoiding human contact more and more. Socialising in Ireland is now defined by alcohol abuse and an obsession with Facebook, headphones, texting, and other kinds of talk-free technology. If these trends persist, loneliness and social isolation will become bigger problems.

Even after all the other changes in urban and rural Ireland, most of us still have neighbours. By this, I mean that there is usually at least one fit, capable and trustworthy person living within a reasonable distance of us.

So, why don’t these fit, capable, trustworthy people visit the lonely people and talk to them?

Tim Buckley

Bowling Green

White Street

Cork City