Media manslaughter.
Let down badly by ITV as well .
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Media manslaughter.
Let down badly by ITV as well .
No one should ever feel like the only option is to take their own lives. Flack’s death actually saddened me and I have sympathy for her and her family and friends.
However, I’m not sure I get this media bashing though. She was on trial for domestic violence and it shouldn’t be undermined just because she was a celebrity. For example numerous tweets like this calling it a lovers tiff (she smashed her boyfriends head in while he was sleeping)
https://twitter.com/avonandsomerrob/...152276993?s=21
Boyfriend forgave her though and appealed against the non- contact order.
You can see why she was a bit paranoid
Altogether very sad.
Much too young
She presented shows that do not interest me in the slightest (I'm hardly their target audience!), so I know very little about her, but it seems to me that there is a media/celebrity roundabout that stacks of people are desperate to board these days and there's a big negative side to that though. Presumably, those willing to take a risk on it are happy to do so or are simply unaware of the potential dangers. Didn't a past Love Island contestant kill themselves last year and there was what happened with the Jeremy Kyle Show as well.
Today there are social media platforms which cry out for you to be judgemental and, it seems, people are only too willing to be that -often to a painful degree. The prevailing culture which we see on television and all other forms of media, with so many seeking to be "celebrities", only puts them out there to be judged in a world where it is so much easier to get feedback about what people are saying about you than it once was - is it any surprise that some find that judgement too harsh to live with?
I know this case is different from contestants in reality shows who found they couldn't live with the attention they were getting, but, as far I can gather, Caroline Flack spent all of her adult life in the spotlight of media and public examination and she, like so many others, encouraged that attention. It's not a natural way of living and there always have been casualties who could not take the downs which came with the many ups - in a world where instantaneous reaction is so easy and can be so much more damning, will it be a surprise if there are many others in the future who decide to do what Caroline did?
It's all very sad, but it seems to me that the genie is out of the bottle now and I'm not sure what can be done to get it back in again.
RIP
Bob I think they know they will get the attention, but looking at some of what was said about her, it's not a surprise to me to read what people think is acceptable to write on social media.
I agree with others she was certainly in the wrong for her actions, but I also feel the way they've gone at her (the press) has probably normalised it to the point your average Twitter user feels comfortable tweeting horrible things about her/writing Instagram comments etc.
(https://twitter.com/Nick_Pettigrew/s...40448140906496)Quote:
We can have a conversation about the kind of press we want in this country, and the way we treat mental illness, and the fact it's a public health crisis we're ignoring. But we won't.
It's not limited to the press or online community, I'm sure we've all heard comments day-to-day which are unnecessarily unkind.
It's too easy to say she was let down by ITV. She was addicted to social media but couldn't cope with the negative comments she received from it. It's also too easy to say she should stop reading her media pages. It seems to me she set her self up for media attention by living the lifestyle of a person in their 20's by dating younger men, possible heavy drinking and frequenting places where the media hang out and to top it all assaulting her boyfriend while he was asleep. None of this was ITV's fault. The situation is very sad and I genuinely feel sorry for her but unfortunately some might say she was the architect of her own downfall. Mental illness is a problem that seems to follow some people around and I don't think there is a real answer for it. Oddly she was at the top of her career whereas it is more common in TV people whose popularity is falling that seem to suffer the most. Very very sad. RIP Caroline Flack.
No parent should have to bury their child.
Very sad.
RIP
"Mental illness is a problem that seems to follow some people around"
This is an unusual phrase. Would you describe any other illness as following some people around?
I'm close to someone who works in public health within a school setting, this person is available to speak to teenagers about any problems or worries they may have. I'd say that social media is cited in 90% of all of the cases dealt with. The problem with Social Media is that it encourages people to be narcissistic and it creates a synthetic bubble that doesn't represent reality. I don't quite know what the answer is, but i do believe that better parenting and kids actually going out of the house and getting some exercise would help.
It is unusual. What i would say is that like any illness, people need to help themselves in certain situations. If using social media or concentrating on negative comments effects the individual then they need to limit their time on these platforms. If mental illness is 'like any other illness' like alot of people say then individuals have to take responsibility for the things that can make that illness escalate, obviously with help and support.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I don’t speak on these things publicly anymore because being abused on social media has somehow become the norm nowadays and I don’t see anyone actively trying to change it but seeing someone take their life because of it really shows how badly something needs to be done</p>— Wilfried Zaha (@wilfriedzaha) <a href="https://twitter.com/wilfriedzaha/status/1228865739798581250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Fair point, although i don't think it's that difficult. First of all, people who are suffering need good help and support, thereafter the recovery starts with making changes to a persons life. Exercise is great and talking to people, doing things that you'd not normally do. Some people may always have mental health problems, although like anything it's about managing it. People do need to make changes in order to recover, services can only do so much and will often encourage small changes to lifestyle.
Mental illness is just harder to measure. Are you missing a foot? Then you can compare to some who has both feet and another with no legs. It’s definable.
Mental illness - you’re depressed? How depressed? How do you measure against when someone is going to go over the edge?
The campaigns are good but everyone’s tolerances are completely different
Bingo. No easy answers here... but for starters:
1/ you need to be 18 to use one of these platforms. Drivers licience/passport required in the sign up process, not too dissimilar to anyone of us signing up to a bookie account these days.
2/ no hiding behind a pseudonim... posts need to ’belong’ to someone. Accountability and visibility. Not so difficult to administer accurately if point 1 is implemented.
It’s not as simple as that though. Just saying “Don’t use social media” is like telling someone to “Snap out of it”. It really isn’t that simple when your head is not in a good state.
The mind is complex and when you are suffering mental health problems you can’t think rationally.
When I had a breakdown and was off work I couldn’t get rid of negative thoughts entering the mind and it just snowballs. I was sitting in the garden one day trying to have a peaceful 10 minutes to myself as suggested by the counsellor and I noticed a crack in next doors wall and I convinced myself their house and my house was going to collapse. My wife would tell me to stop looking at it but I become fixated on it and that was another negative to add to my list of negatives I would play on a loop in my mind. I couldn’t wait to drop a sleeping tablet to go to sleep and rid myself of negative thoughts and would dread waking up as the thoughts would return instantly and I couldn’t get them out of my head.
Now that I’m better I can look back and laugh at how ridiculous some of the things I was getting worked up about were but at the time it’s really not funny, You start to worry you won’t get better and then start considering suicide. Thankfully the chemicals kicked in sooner rather than later for me but for many, including that poor girl, the mind has convinced them it’s the only option.
Very, very sad when someone who by and large had made a success of her life in her 40 years on this earth thought that taking her own life was the only choice she had left.
RIP
I'm really pleased that you're feeling better, it must have been horrendous for you and your family to go through. You don't have to answer this, but did you make any changes to your lifestyle or did you carry on as normal and allow the medication to kick in? You said that you were having a quiet 10 minutes as suggested by the counsellor, isn't that a lifestyle change in order to make yourself feel better?
I know that medical professionals offer good advice on changing certain aspects of a persons life in order to combat Mental illness, things that can trigger a situation or make things worse. Obviously the medication has to kick in and a person needs to start feeling better before any changes take place. Once again, really pleased that you're feeling better.
Shows such as Love Island and it's ilk need to be axed because they pray on certain personality types to go on those shows. Anyone who watches these shows perpetuates the hurt they can do.
Mental illness is a serious problem and despite all the media attention on it recently there is still a massive stigma about it and a shocking lack of investment and support in mental health services
The average wait for 6 sessions of basic counselling at most gp services is 6 months !
Imagine going to your doctor with a broken ankle , a far less serious illness than clinical depression ....and being told oh we can help but its 6 months ! Feck me if you break your ankle you are in and out of hospital in two or three days
The funding from the public for cancer , heart disease , children's health dwarfs that given to mental health and the HHS is the same , mental health funding is bottom of the pile
It seems in this case substance misuse complicated this person's treatment but mental ill health and drinking or drug taking go hand in hand
As for lifestyle changes like healthy eating and exercise they are of course part of an overall treatment plan but if there are no therapists , nurses or psychiatrists to back this up then its pissing in the wind
A holistic approach to mental health treatment is what is required and we simply dont have that at the moment
It's either poor treatment in the community or hospitalization
I told my psychiatrist a few years ago that if I was discharged from her care I would end back in hospital in weeks , she discharged me and I was back in llandough
If she had kept me under her care with a psychiatric nurse , support worker and community psychiatric nurse I wouldnt have had to go through the horrific ordeal of a month in a mental hospital with some seriously disturbed patients
It is those patients who require intensive hospital support , those of us who have lifelong battles with mental illness need care in the community with properly funded nursing and psychiatric support and , if needed , help to come of alcohol or drugs , if applicable
This lady had serious problems and in many serious cases people are unable to be saved , they are hard wired to self destruction but for most , even with severe mental health difficulties a better life can be attained
The problem is it takes money and as we live in a society where people want good services but are not prepared to pay for them through taxation , the rate of suicide and people falling through the net will continue
Big Brother was running for nearly 20 years- well before social media blew up. How many big brother contestants have killed themselves? If your pointing the finger- it needs to be at twitter/insta and all those other sites that give people the vehicle to facelessly dish out abuse and insults.
The issue is social media.
According to this (sorry it's The Scum), nearly 40 reality tv show contestants worldwide have committed suicide since 1986. I'd agree social media is a major factor, but they probably exacerbate each other.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbi...de-reality-tv/
I stopped drinking for a while and went to the gym more, started running the roads, lost a bit of weight and so that helped me feel better about myself but it’s the medication that keeps my mind in order.
I come off the tablets too quickly Xmas 2018 and by April 2019 I was in a bad place mentally. I hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours a night for months and insomnia is an absolute mother ****er if you are not well. The thoughts circling the head at 3,4am are the worse. By the time I was getting up for work at 7am I was mentally exhausted. Took a while for the meds to kick in again, I thought I was never going to get better but they eventually kicked in and I was back in work after a month off.
Worked paid for 4 sessions with a counsellor at Mind because the NHS was a waste of time, but speaking from my own personal point of view the counsellor was another waste of time. Ex teacher who was topping up her retirement fund. Just telling me things I could look up online myself. Work offered to pay for another 4 sessions but I declined. She forgot an exercise sheet we were going to go through one week to teach me some CBD techniques. She was hopeless.
Thinking of tapering off the meds again as the tablet I take in the night, whilst giving me a tremendous deep sleep, I am constantly hungry on it and it’s known for weight gain. All the weight I’d lost running I put back on. Back in the gym this last month though so getting back into it and eating better. Still enjoy a few pints though.