Could you tell me how times have changed?

When you asked me to think of a blog post, it made me think about lots of things about myself and people in my life. For example, the story of a relative whose husband was overseas for the whole of WW2 while she was at home with a small child. She had problems with her "nerves" and went to the Doctor - who told her to take up smoking! And when I really start thinking about mental health matters, well things start coming back to me about people and situations that I can interpret from the perspective of the greater awareness and knowledge that exists today. I now realise there were people in my life who were really struggling to cope, and what help did they get? I can recall a tragic case from my student years, and I still wonder what we could have done to help this tragic guy. I hope that today more would be done. I also think back to my twenties, when I was suffering from panic attacks. It just felt like I was going mad and it made me question everything I did- even down to my choice of sandwich filling to take to work one day ( cheese and mustard!) in case it made me look mad to those around me. In more recent times, during a particularly stressful period at work, I have had access to counselling which has been beneficial. I think of counselling being similar to the physio for sports injuries - physio for the mind if you like. And I am glad that the understanding of mental health related issues has come a long way from being told to start smoking!