MENTAL HEALTH

Andrea O’Neill

As millions of conversations took place about mental health on Time to Talk Day, one East Kilbride man bravely spoke out about his own diagnosis.

Liam Rankin, 49, was first diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was a teenager, but revealed he was told not to talk about what he was going through.

Now, as part of mental health charity See Me’s Time to Talk awareness campaign, Liam is seeking to help others experiencing psychosis.

Speaking candidly about how a wall of silence effectively led him to self-harm and suffer an overdose, West Mains man Liam said: “I always thought I couldn’t tell anyone about my schizophrenia, that it wasn’t something I should talk about.

“So I ended up self-harming and overdosing to try and get people to ask me how I was. If no one asks you how you are then it is so much harder to talk about it.

“I grew up in a generation when this was treated like a dirty secret. I felt really isolated, when you can’t speak about what’s going on you lose everyone, you don’t think anyone will understand.

“If I could have spoken out and got proper help when I was younger then it could have made a huge difference. Early intervention is vital and you need to be able to talk to do that.”

Two-thirds of people in Scotland (67 per cent) feel they have no-one to talk to when it comes to mental health.

In a bid to change this, footballers, actors, comedians, activists and politicians, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, have come together to start a conversation and help bring about an end to mental health stigma and discrimination.

With the help of his mental health team, Liam is now seeing the difference talking can make.

He is now involved in a project speaking to medical staff about interventions with people experiencing psychosis.

Liam added: “Talking has made a massive difference.