Joanna Lumley discussed mental health ‘bandwagon’ & was leapt on by wolves

ONCE UPON a time the British were praised for having a stiff upper lip.

Suppressing emotions helped us get through two world warsa winter of discontent and the end of Marley & Me.

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Today it’s right up there with blackface and wolf whistle on the PC scale.

Today we encourage ourselves to “drop everything”, and seek professional help when things get a little difficult.

Celeb after C-list celebrity dating”mental health battles” as an explanation for any misbehavior, i.e. they were caught.

so when Jane Lumley suggested that people are too quick to jump on the “mental illness bandwagon”, obviously a pack of Twitter wolves pounced on her.

Many questioned her qualifications in psychiatry (probably only 75 years on this planet should give her some pretty decent hit points), while others called her a dangerous lunatic.

A Twitter user foams up: “The ‘roll up your socks’ brigade has a lot to answer for. Older people seem to think that having emotions is a weakness.”

The reality is that the Ab Fab star has every right to speak.

The brilliant life-saving mental health charity is not only Mind, one of the 38 charities it supports, but the actress and presenter has previously been open about the complete psychiatric breakdown she had when she was in her twenties.

So yes, I’d say I was quite entitled to an opinion.

Joanna reflected: “This is horrible to say, but I think the mental health issue is getting overblown right now because anyone who is even remotely sad says they have mental issues.

“You say, ‘This is what is called being human.’ When someone dies and you to grievethat’s human.

“That is being human. You are not mentally ill.

“And I think it’s also horrible for people who really have a mental illness or who are well clinically. Depressedfor everyone to say that they have to have some kind of special treatment.

“Just control yourself. You know what I mean? Of course some of you are going to feel really bad and some of you may be suicidal or mentally depressed, that’s a different thing.

“But anyone who just says, ‘Oh, burr,’ just thinks, ‘Get over it.'”

He speaks with a lot of sense.

To be clear, mental illness is a very, very real thing, something that weakens lives. It affects not only the victim but also their loved ones, those left to pick up the pieces.

“We have become a nation that looks at the navel and is obsessed with therapy”

Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder: each of them is a disease as big as cancer.

That we’ve opened up the conversation about mental health is, overall, great.

It allows those with a mental illness to get the help they need, without the stigma attached.

But I fear that, to some degree, we have also bred a generation of navel-gazing, therapy-obsessed thinkers. (I include myself in this parenthesis).

Teachers are too afraid to scold children in case they are misquoted and fired.

Millennials are increasingly entitled, always reminding employers that their “work-life balance” comes first.

The pandemic has not helped.

By spawning a nation of comfortable I work from homewe’ve given people more time to self-diagnose courtesy of Doctor Google.

When they first left me a few years ago, I cried for the fifth time in my life. I tried therapy. It made me cry more.

But I fear that, to some degree, we have also bred a generation of navel-gazing, therapy-obsessed thinkers. (I include myself in this parenthesis).

Clemmie Moody

crying to by Celine Dion All By Myself, on loop, wasn’t helping anyone. Less than me. I got out of it.

This was a glorious life, messy, not perfect. Not chronic depression.

But more and more we are looking for labels that cover the most basic human emotions.

If someone bothers us, it is “depression”. If we are nervous about something, it is “anxiety”.

Our collective resilience is diminishing.

By misquoting mental illness, you are grossly unfair to those who are truly ill.

Of course, anyone should be heard, and therapy is a useful and indispensable tool for millions.

But by crying wolf, we undercut the paralyzing, bone-numbing pain of those who truly have mental illness.

Some people can’t “get over it”, they can’t “get off” things. They are the ones we should help.

A bitter drink, Loz

WELL, this didn’t age very well.

Last week, rent-a-rant actor Laurence Fox, a man who doesn’t seem to believe in Covid, proudly displayed a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “No vaccine needed; I have an immune system.”

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Five days later, he tweeted a lateral flow test showing he had covid.

Laurence, the man who doesn’t need medication because he has an immune system, added that he was taking “ivermectin, saline nasal rinse, quercetin, paracetamol and ibuprofen.”

Those little holistic supplements, made by small pharmaceutical companies. . .

Minnie’s advances for women

IT IS 1988. I am six years old and the main (only) maid of honor at my aunt and uncle’s quaint country wedding.

Stomping down the aisle with bloodshot eyes, wearing a marshmallow pink dress.

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Wedding ruined photos as he stared with stony eyes, seething silently, into the camera lens.

For MONTHS I begged my parents to let me wear my Spider-Man costume, or a fancy little suit. They were both a tough No.

It’s now 2022. I can wear what I want, when I want.

Not just for being, well, 40 (only), but thanks to little things like this: Minnie Mouse gets a pants makeover.

Thanks to Stella McCartneyDisney’s most famous female rodent no longer wears a polka dot dress.

It is, according to the British designer, a “symbol of progress for a new generation”.
Yes, he is awake. But for once, I don’t care.

To tomboys like me, little Minnie represents a beacon of hope that little girls don’t have to wear dresses.

footie is on trial

20 YEARS, green wood mason he is a billionaire.

A man who, until Sunday, was a hero worshiped by millions and had women throwing themselves at his Nike-sponsored feet.

In a heartbeat, in the time it took to post harrowing audio and images of alleged rapes and physical abuse, she could lose all of that.

If convicted, Mason must never play professional football again.

No club can touch him, and he will never wear the Three Lions Crest on his chest.

Whatever the truth of this incident, and Mason is innocent until proven guilty, football in general has to take a hard look at itself.

While we don’t know what happened to the Greenwood affair, too many players in recent years have cheated off the pitch almost as much as they’ve dazzled on it.

High level players are treated like gods.

All his Neanderthal growls were celebrated, the sulky post-match interview was spared, and Jack-the-lad’s antics were cheered.

For too long they have been allowed to get away with it.

If he is guilty, Greenwood should be an example of.

Academy players, schoolchildren, the stars of tomorrow: they need proper role models.