Monday 1 September 2014

Helping with research at Cardiff University

A lady came to see me today who is a clinical psychologist at Cardiff university. She and her colleagues are working tirelessly with other universities, and indeed other countries, to find out why so many women are now being diagnosed with clinical depression. She was particularly interested in the type that I had which is centred around the hormonal years in women's lives, and mostly after childbirth, which is when I feel that my illness peaked and took on a more sinister turn.

After a brief introduction she began by asking numerous questions and filling in a questionnaire which is then fed back to all the Professors who are trying to help thousands of women, who through no fault of their own have developed hormonal depression. She also took a blood sample so that my DNA can be looked at under the microscope where they will try to isolate the gene responsible for this catastrophic illness. This of course is immensely important and will help the future generations to come. Being that I have 8 nieces in my direct blood line, and a long family history of depression, this critical research is long overdue and vital in protecting anyone who may be at risk.

Once she had taken my case history, she told me that indeed there certainly is a faulty gene which is responsible and all of the sufferers she has come into contact with have that same faulty genome which is responsible for their illness. This of course is extremely helpful and can even help conquer the sense of shame that one feels when they are depressed. I blamed myself for many years and even felt guilty for something that I now know to be out of my control and  a genetic mutation. There was nothing I did, nothing that I could do that bought about my illness, it was simply there all along and had been before I was even born.

In order to understand more about this depression Cardiff University is looking for more sufferers and need more case studies and blood samples to further that research. Please contact in the first instance,
The Mood Disorders Research Team
Cardiff University
DEPT of Psychological Medicine
4th floor Main Building
HEATH HOSPITAL, CARDIFF
CF14 4XN
OR by email at moodresearch@cardiff.ac.uk
If you think you can help, you must have had Postnatal illness, psychosis or an ongoing mood disorder. Please try to help these amazing scientists in the battle against mental illness.
Much Love Suzi x

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