Iris - owning up to health issues might do some good

More to follow on Iris Robinson's departure. However it is worth quoting a snippet from Clive Aslet at the Daily Telegraph.

I don't know whether to accept that the Northern Irish MP Iris Robinson's stated reason for quitting politics – depression – is the whole story. A row about the fact that she and her First Minister husband employ four family members on their staff may have also been a contributory factor. But I welcome the attention she has drawn to the issue of mental health, which remains too little understood.


Stigma surrounding mental illness has certainly dissipated, but it is still a very real issue. Whether one accepts that Iris Robinson's decision to give up her public role is an uncomplicated health matter, or not, she has performed a useful service by owning up to her condition.

Assessing her contribution to Northern Ireland's politics is, of course, an entirely different matter.

Comments

Stephen Glenn said…
Also will Iris's admission of depression also highlight the large number of gay people in Northern Ireland who are in depression through the need to repress their own beings to get on with the society around them.
30 December 2009 at 18:12
Anonymous said…
As someone who has suffered from depression since puberty, and been firmly betrayed by his university, I am not without sympathy for Robinson's stated reasons.

I guess, even squalid little bigots can succumb to it.
30 December 2009 at 19:14
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