A sad story

I was reading about the terribly sad story of Robert Enke, the German national goalkeeper whose funeral was today in Hanover Football stadium. 45,000 people showed up to say goodbye to Mr. Enke who killed himself on Tuesday. It is a tragic story and one which highlights, yet again, the problems faced by those who suffer from non-physical ailments - in this case, depression.

I only have news reports to go on but it seems as though he was reluctant to talk about his illness for fear of stigma - the pressure must have been relentless on him.

Mental health care is often the poor relation in the medical business. However much we try to get away from the idea of blame for illness - the simple fact of the matter is that if you have a heart bypass folks are sympathetic - if you spend and equivalent amount of time in a behavioral health unit you will be for ever suspect.

Unfortunately, in America, mental good-health often comes down to economic capability. If you have insurance which covers you or you have money there are good treatments available for many illnesses. However, if you are struggling to make ends meet you will tend to put psychiatric care at the bottom of a very long list of your needs. Self-medication with alcohol, illegal drugs or other addictive behaviors, or simply withdrawing from society altogether, become the poor person's temporary cure - the only hope being that you get so bad that you are forcibly put into treatment - but this, again, is a lottery, with public provision varying widely in its scope and effect.

I know where Jesus would have been - He would have reached out to the people who are most in need. We will all have to fight to overcome our own prejudices, but fight we must. Being able to think straight is something we can too easily take for granted - and this is not about conforming to societal norms but simply feeling we are ourselves. Fracture from self or from society is a terrible thing to endure - but whilst internal disintegration happens because of illness, external pressure comes from society and society is people like you and me - people who have somehow to learn to be Christ's body even in the most trying of places.