Platform 51

News

Sunday, 15 January 2012
Beating the blues on Blue Monday

But what about Tuesday?

As we face the most depressing day of the year - Monday 16th January - Platform 51 will be asking celebrities via Twitter how they cope when they are feeling low and what advice they can give us to make it through Blue Monday.

If you have tips and advice to give about how to beat the blues, don't hesitate to join in the conversation with @platform51 here at http://twitter.com/platform51 .

We are doing this as part of Platform 51's ongoing mental health campaign which we set up after research we had conducted found that 3 in 5 girls and women will experience low level mental health problems at some point and 1 in 5 (18%) women keep these problems a secret from their family.

Clearly, however, as Rebecca Gill, our Director of Policy, Campaigns and Communications at Platform 51 advises :

"Whilst many of us feel a little low on Blue Monday and enjoy reading about the ways we can perk ourselves up, for many people across the country this feeling does not disappear when Tuesday comes".

Platform 51 is acutely aware that millions of women and girls are suffering with mental health problems but are often not getting the support they need. Our research suggests that the NICE guidelines on antidepressants are not being followed because 1 in 4 women currently on antidepressants have been on them for 10 years or more and a quarter of women have not received a review of their medication in the last year. This comes at a time when a report from the Cooperative Pharmacy found that antidepressant use has increased by 25% since the start of the recession.

This is precisely why, as Platform 51's Rebecca Gill says ..."we are calling on Government to urgently review the use of antidepressants to ensure that they are not the first and only port of call for tackling mental health problems. By signing our Platform 51 petition you are helping women and girls get the specialised support they need with their mental health problems."

You can help on Blue Monday by joining in our Blue Monday 'beat the blues' chat on Twitter or, by signing our petition. Or both! To sign the petition, just go to our Platform 51 website at www.platform51.org and click on the Petition section of our Home Page.

We appreciate your help and participation in helping to make Blue Monday less blue for the millions of women and girls suffering with mental health problems.