Have posted this on another forum, so I hope it's OK to share it on here. In light of the sad news about Gary Speed and also Stan Collymore speaking about his recent troubles, I hope it's OK to bring up the subject. Why? To shed light on something which affects a great many people yet often is misunderstood and belittled because it is considered something of a taboo by society in general.
Mental illness will affect 1 in 4 of us at some point in our lives and it's more common than people realize and yet there is this stigma. With regards to my own experiences, I've got an anxiety disorder which has been around for nearly 14 years now. Initially it was diagnosed as depression, then PTSD and finally a more GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) The last bout I had was 2 years ago, brought on by a trigger which I still don't know about. It lasted for 3 months, I dropped 3st in weight and ended up in a pretty bad way. As Stan Collymore said on his own Twitter blog today, it began as an irrational fear which built up over days and exploded into panic attacks and feeling constantly scared to death from the moment I woke up in the morning, until I somehow fell asleep at night. By the last occurance though, I had discovered something great about beating it and that is to share your experiences with others and talk about it. Granted not everyone feels able to do this - but I would urge it as it can be a huge help. With regards to how I dealt with it, I went onto 40mg Citaloram per day(which I am still on), along with an emergency supply of Diazepam and Temazepam (to aid sleep), which I take as an when which is thankfully very rare over the last 18 months or so. I've also had CBT in this time, which gave me a greater understanding of my illness. It's something which I have learned to live with and I now accept that I will come back at some point in the future, but I CAN and WILL get better.
Feel free to contribute and ask questions if it helps to generate more of an understanding. Attitudes are changing (abeit slowly) but more can be done.
*NOTE - I appreciate at this time, the reasons surrounding Gary Speed's death are unknown. Depression may or may not have been a factor.