What some people think or say.
‘You’re mental’
‘You’re psycho’
‘You’re crazy’
‘You’re mad’
‘You’re disturbed’
‘You’re evil’
‘You’re pathetic’
‘You’re bad’
‘You hurt those around you,
You don’t seem to care.’
‘What’s your problem, what’s with you?
Is anyone there?’
‘It’s abnormal’
‘It’s alarming’
‘It’s atrocious’
‘It’s harming’
‘You’re not like yourself.
You’re like some devil’s spawn.
Earth to your planet.
What is it you’re on?’
‘No-one can get you
While you’re head is a mess.
Get some help, see a doctor,
See a priest, go confess.’
‘You must have done something
Barmy, I think,
Go see a psychiatrist
Go talk to a shrink.’
‘Someone who’ll listen
And know who you are,
Someone who knows
Why your lid is ajar.’
What people need to hear.
‘Whatever your ache is
Whatever your pain
We’re in this together.
You’ll be well once again.’
What it can feel like.
‘The pain that’s inside
Is pressure on mind
It’s a panic, a fear,
Ahead and behind.
Don’t know why I’m troubled
Don’t know what’s the root
Can’t find me a reason
Can’t find me a foot
On the ladder that’s up
And if I could ascend
I’d be here fully with you
To heal and to mend.
My mind feels so broken
My hormones gone wild
I feel like an infant,
I behave like a child
Who is hurt, who is troubled
Who feels a great dread,
Love me, help me,
Guide my poor head.
Hold me, caress me
Sing a song so I’ll sleep
The phantoms will flounder
Delve into the deep.
The recesses roar,
Their might is aflame.
My monsters are calling
My name once again.
I’m slipping, I’m sliding,
The path is too steep.
Hold fast beside me
I’m afraid and I weep
For sanity’s safety
Its shores with a pier,
Its harbour, its anchor
To hold back the fear.
I urge you, I implore you
Please persevere
There’s aid for this illness
But I need loved ones near.’
One possible answer.
The pills they provide
Hold a key to the tomb.
Serotonin rises
Despatches the gloom.
Why do some suffer
The pain of the mind?
Why is it hidden?
Afraid to find
No-one will talk?
Or they’ll say that
You’re weak?
So hold it inside
Too ashamed to speak
Of mental illness,
The stigma attached.
The sink has a crack
Where the hormone leaks out
The levels diminish
The brain screams a shout
Fix me, repair me,
Do whatever it takes.
Why do you hesitate
Till your body it shakes
With tremors and torments
And rocking anew
This mind that is troubled
With thoughts gone askew?
The answers you seek
Lie in one little bottle
The inhibitor prevents
The desire to throttle
The life from your body
The thought from your mind.
Be assuaged, be helped
So some peace you will find.
There is more than one type of depression.
Different answers may need to be sought.
Help is out there.
Attitudes to mental illness need to change.
scottishmomus 