Struggle for meninpost job cuts era
A LEADING psychiatrist has told how she supported men struggling to cope as Glasgow’s industrial heritage crumbled and unemployment soared during Thatcher’s reign.
Dr Denise Coia said she witnessed a “loss of confidence and sense of self” amongst working class men affected by swinging cuts in engineering, shipbuilding and the steel industry in the 1980s.
Dr Coia, who was recently made a Dame of the British Empire for her contribution to mental health services, spent much of her working life in a health centre in the Gorbals.
Thatcherism brought the worst recession since the 1930s between 1981 and 1983, destroying one fifth of Scotland’s industrial base and doubling unemployment.
In 1981 the Linwood car plant in Renfrewshire shut with 4800 jobs lost.
Ravenscraig steelworks closed in 1992 with the loss of 1200 jobs and various Clyde shipyards wound down or closed, including Scott Lithgow in Greenock in 1988.
Research by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health last year confirmed that the main drivers of poor health in Glasgow were de-industrialisation linked to poverty and deprivation. The impact of this in the city, it found, was exacerbated by a complex set of additional factors which have led to Glasgow having a comparatively worse health record than other parts of the UK, with a similar demographic.
Dr Coia said: “I think there is a whole range of issues involved. Glasgow was an industrial city and as the industry has closed down a lot of my practice in the mid 1980s was really particularly men who were struggling to come to terms with that and re-in- vent themselves. It’s been very difficult.
“We see the busy, buzzy side of Glasgow. Young people love Glasgow and they all want to come here but for people at that time in their 50s it was difficult to adapt to that world.
“There’s been a lot of problems with peoples’ feelings of confidence and sense of self. It led to second and third generation unemployment.”
Dr Coia, who is also chairwoman of Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said that supporting children from challenging backgrounds and “building resilience” in communities was key to improving mental health and helping reverse the city’s poor health record.