When the Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community Care, Mario Galea, started experiencing the signs and symptoms of depression he wondered whether he should simply seek mental health care without talking about it and showing people that he had the condition.

In an interview with this newspaper, he recalled that contrary to the advice he was given by many people, TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi had suggested he talks about the disorder.

“Many people had urged me to remain silent, particularly because of the potential repercussions on my political career. But Peppi had spoken about his experience with depression himself, and he had encouraged me to do the same.

“I did not decide to talk about my experience to be some kind of hero. I am no hero. I simply wanted to break the deafening silence. I wanted to pass on the message that mental illness can affect anyone and that it isn’t something to be ashamed of.”

As former American President Bill Clinton once said, “mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is the stigma and bias that should shame us all”.

Mr Galea stressed that depression is a treatable illness and recovery is possible and achievable: “I no longer take treatment and I am fine. Many people had approached me, telling me that they were encouraged to talk about their own experiences after I spoke about mine. This gives me a lot of satisfaction and it shows that talking about mental disorders is an effective way to break the stigma and to fight the discrimination against patients and families, which prevent people from seeking mental health care.”

He referred to the harmful comments in the media about him in relation to his mental problem, and about Nationalist MP Franco Debono’s comments against him.

“To be fair, Franco called me to say he was going to remove the comments from his blog. Many people privately denounced the comments, but why was nobody ready to talk about the incident and say that it is simply not on?”

Mr Galea said many people do not acknowledge how common mental disorders are, and associate mental illness with serious problems such as psychosis and schizophrenia. But the reality is that conditions such as anxiety, stress and insomnia are all mental health problems, he said, adding that only 28% of sufferers seek mental health care.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the number of mental health problems such as depression will become more common than cancer and diabetes by the year 2050.

Mr Galea spoke about the various developments in the mental health sector, saying that apart from investing in services at Mater Dei Hospital and Mount Carmel Hospital, the government has also been investing heavily in community services (€7 million between 2008 and 2011).

There are currently 160 professionals working at the community level in 40 localities, and close to 14,000 people benefited from the services offered in 2011 alone.

Mr Galea also referred to the five day centres for people with mental health problems in Qormi, Cospicua, Floriana, Paola and Zejtun, and the six community clinics in Qormi, Cospicua, Mtarfa, Kirkop, Floriana and Paola.

The Crisis Intervention Team – which gets involved in cases such as that of a man who recently threatened to commit suicide in Qormi – was very successful in its first year of operation, having provided assistance to more than 900 people.

Mr Galea’s office has also been working with the Housing Authority to provide accommodation to people with mental health problems who do not work, have no fixed address and are capable of living in the community.

World Mental Health Day, 10 October, 2012, focused on depression, and the reality is that globally, more than 350 million people have depression, a mental disorder that prevents people from functioning well. But because of the stigma that is often still attached to depression, many fail to acknowledge that they are ill and do not seek treatment.

According to WHO, mental disorders account for about 20% of the burden of disease in the European region, rising to 26% in the countries in the EU. Depression alone is responsible for about 15% of all days lived with disability. Some countries, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, have reported that up to 50% of long-term sick leave and disability payments are due to mental disorders, mostly depression.

Interestingly, WHO says that about half of mental disorders begin before the age of 14. Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents are estimated to have mental disorders or problems, with similar types of disorders being reported across cultures.

Mr Galea said that studies have shown that it is not true that there is a particularly high incidence of mental health problems among criminals, or that people with mental conditions are failures. The truth is that mental health problems can affect anyone, irrespective of their age, education and social standing.

The parliamentary secretary noted that famous personalities such as scientist Isaac Newton, composer Ludvig van Beethoven, American President Abraham Lincoln, artist Vincent van Gogh, nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and scientist Charles Darwin all had mental health problems.

Others like musician Billy Joel, actress Brooke Shields and author J.K. Rowling had spoken openly about their experience of depression, and Princess Diana, actor Harrison Ford and singer Olivia Newton-John all went through an experience of depression. Princess Diana even had eating disorders, while J.K. Rowling had also said she was suicidal.

And two British MPs recently spoke about their mental health problems in an effort to break the taboo around the issue. BBC quoted Tory MP Charles Walker as telling MPs that he was a “practising fruitcake” as he described how he had lived with OCD for more than 30 years.

“His Labour colleague Kevan Jones told of his battle with depression and the ‘difficult’ decision to speak out. The pair earned praise from charities for their ‘historic’ speeches.”