Brave Dundee councillor opens up about mental health battle

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A brave Dundee councillor has opened up about his personal mental health battle. Charlie Malone - who was re-elected in Lochee for Scottish Labour last week - has suffered from depression, severe anxiety and PTSD for years.

But he is now overcoming his demons and is encouraging people to start talking about their own issues. Charlie - who is a senior lecturer at Abertay University - has never spoken about his own problems.

But he’ll be doing an online talk to help mark Mental Health Awareness Week 2022.In it he says that talking about our own mental health is not easy.When people suffer from a condition such as anxiety or depression, talking about problems can seem like the most difficult thing in the world.Charlie was first diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, or GAD, when he was 21.GAD manifests as excessive and exaggerated worry about everyday life events.

It’s a tendency to catastrophise absolutely everything for no obvious reason.Charlie said: “Part of my illness also involves an overbearing sense of failure which sees me constantly pushing myself to do more, to work harder, to be better.“I think this is the main reason why I’ve always been reluctant to talk about my own mental health – the perceived sense of failure that comes from admitting that something is wrong, and you need help.DundeeLive brings you the latest headlines from Dundee and beyond.But did you know you all the ways you can stay informed with us?You can get our top stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily news updates.