Friday, February 22, 2019

Right to be scared?

Yesterday we visited the archives with the Ageing Well group (supported by Age UK) to look at Horton Road Asylum records and see what new people's stories we could find.
Amongst the records were a man who was described as "fearing he might be shot" as he wasn't yet in the army and was worried about being conscripted. There were also two women who were put into Horton Road Asylum because they were "worried about the Zeppelin raids".
On the face of it these three people all have rational fears. No one wants to be forced to fight and the first time bombing raids were carried out on the UK must have been terrifying. So why were they sent to the asylum?
The labels given like "incoherent rambling" would now be recognised as signs of depression or deeper paranoia and fear. The only solution was to lock people away and try and "relieve" their situation (the phrase in the case books from 1917 when people are released - "Patient relieved")
When we look at how far the treatment of mental health has come and with the present political climate I wonder how many people may be suffering in similar ways because of Brexit, the fear of terrorism, unemployment and poverty etc.
The question is how many people are living with this depression now with no help available for them or no recognition of their deepest fears.