Mental illness and depression is all around us

EACH and every day, I make time to write and have to admit that this can be a challenging experience.

If I’m not writing jokes, editing a script or tuning ideas for this newspaper column, I’m adding to my list of corporate and conference talks for a future event.

Doing this exercise on a daily basis works the old grey matter and ensures my writing skills don’t get rusty.

When researching subjects, I often turn to the news pages online, which can be a great source of material.

Unfortunately, most of the time (well, nearly all of the time) the news is full of negative and shocking stories from home and around the world.

Rarely do we see happy, uplifting headlines.

That wouldn’t sell, would it? I’m all for freedom of speech and the free exchange of information, but the level of shock news reporting we are exposed to is bound to have a detrimental effect on our moods and outlook on life.

It is also clearly evident that children are also exposed to this negativity at such a young age, it can’t possibly help to create a healthy and positive outlook.

I would welcome more good news or even a ‘Good News Channel’.

Is it any wonder that we now live in a society where mental illness and depression is at an uncontrollable level?