Tasmania 2009 — Plus ça change… plus c’est la même chose?

Nostradamus
I am not the only one who thinks that the old-fashioned notion of community in Tasmania has been systematically eroded both by government action and changes to lifestyle. Tasmania has changed greatly over the past 20 years and the attitude towards Paula Wriedt is but one very public example. The lack of compassion by so many has been staggering. I wish her well and to those who are ambivalent I can only say: “Be thankful because there but for the grace of God go you,” because for every prominent person who hits the pages of the media, there is literally hundreds whose plight remains hidden. Survivors of suicide attempts invariably suffer stigma and need help and support, as for obvious reasons do their nearest and dearest. Finally, while I find the activities of the media in general to be somewhat unsavoury in many respects, I really must commend the Mercury and its management for their decision to post details of suicide support services prominently in every article connected with the case of Paula Wriedt. When she has faded from public view, perhaps they will consider continuation of highlighting the services available because they will be assuredly needed in times to come.

IT IS with some trepidation that I resume comments on Tasmanian affairs and I will not apologise for focussing on only one issue first up – the antics of politicians can wait, for it seems to me that we need to take stock of ourselves as Tasmanians and individuals.

Looking to 2009, the French proverb above which translates literally as “the more things change…the more they stay the same” appears to be only too relevant. It is extremely hard for me pass up commenting on the resignation from Parliament of Paula Wriedt. From the time that she attempted suicide last August until early this week, I read the Mercury with a great deal of sympathy for her and her family. However, I also forced myself to read many of the blogs on the paper’s electronic version and they certainly provide insight into human nature and feelings. In a rather strange way, I am reminded of a fairly old science-fiction movie called Starman. I won’t go into the plot except to say that an alien assumes human form through converting the DNA of a deceased person. The film naturally enough examines the responses of the evil US government in trying to track him down and capture him or it as the case may be. As he departs, he makes the observation that the human race is very strange but they are at their best when things around them are at their worst. And sometimes we see an element of truth of this statement in daily life.

According to respected academics and economists, Australia is in for a pretty tough time economically. Mention has been made of Tasmania’s slightly better position with respect to some of the mainland states, due in no small part to responsible economic management. Not that you would expect the Liberal party to give credit where credit is due and the carping of a shadow minister on ABC radio on 19 January 2009 demonstrates quite clearly (as if we really need to be reminded) that the spirit of Christmas grows shorter every year. I rather gather that some supermarkets did not wait until the 12th night before pulling down Christmas decorations and displaying hot cross buns and Easter eggs. Doesn’t time go fast enough for some of these people? Apparently not! I happened to be abroad after Christmas with friends and it was most disconcerting to find Christmas decorations beyond 12th night.

What I do know is that this last year, 2008, we had a myriad of contradictory attitudes and behaviours. Many people received payments from the federal government and were encouraged to go out and spend to stimulate the economy. I did and I don’t regret it but I also made sure that certain charities received their share of the windfall. It appears that right across Australia, demands and requests for assistance were higher last Christmas than for many years. Tasmanians once again demonstrated their generosity through increased giving of cash and presents to the established charities and of course, the ABC giving tree. I always get a great deal of pleasure as a regular ABC listener when I hear that on-air personalities are perfectly prepared to make fools of themselves in public in order to raise money for the needy. It is to remind myself of part of the Christmas spirit that I make it a practice to watch a film version of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol and while people have varying views on who best plays Scrooge, I have rather taken to Patrick Stewart who beamed down from the starship Enterprise, removed himself from the Matrix to go back in time and become Ebenezer Scrooge. It is usually part of my Christmas lead up to also listen to the same work in audio form. Ric Patterson, formerly of the ABC recorded a wonderful version of years ago. I have it on tape but the tape has vanished and who listens to tapes these days? No, we are more interested in the instant gratification provided by other media. TV and radio were a mind-numbing insult to those who remained sober.

The silly season in Australia lasts from roughly the third week of November to the second week of February. During that time, we can enjoy cricket in its many manifestations, although I prefer baseball to 20/20 which is a version of the game that caters to instant gratification and a short attention span. I doubt very much that it does a great deal for the skills of the cricketers involved but it obviously pays well and quite possibly, fielding is improved. With the advent of World Series Cricket and the 50-over game or “Packer-ball” as we referred to it in the early days, many purists predicted the demise of the test matches. I don’t go much for the hoopla associated with one-day cricket but the 50-over game can be very entertaining but like mince pies at Christmas, it could hardly be said that they keep well. The recent Tests against South Africa by all accounts will be remembered for some time but who remembers last season’s one-day games?

In the same way, Tasmanians have always been noted for their generosity of spirit and giving but it seems that with the compression of time over the Christmas period, feelings towards our friends and neighbours warm briefly and dissipate quickly. The fact that the leaders of the three political parties also make fools of themselves in public for charity before Christmas, while praiseworthy, could hardly be expected to last, especially with the economic situation and the prospect of an election in just over 12 months time.

That brings be back to the perils and problems of Paula. I have previously written on my own experiences with depression and suicidal ideation. I do not intend to reiterate what I have said before but Ms. Wriedt’s confession that she thought committing suicide would be the best thing for her children came as no surprise to me. As I have commented, when a depressed person reaches the point of seriously considering suicide, they become so self-absorbed and self-centred that literally nothing can break the internalised logic barrier. The mind is clear and the objective equally so – the individual realizes that by suicide, their problems will be solved and so will those of the nearest and dearest left behind. My children were horrified to learn that my ex-wife had expressed the view that it would’ve been better for everyone had I been successful in committing suicide – a dead hero, rather than a continuing irritation in the life of what was once my family.

Therefore, I can fully understand the calculated logic behind Ms. Wriedt’s reasoning in a depressed state. I hope by now she realizes that had she been successful, the consequences for her children would’ve been far greater and I am genuinely heartened by her public statement to the effect that she wants to assist people in understanding suicide. I would assume that that means educating or trying to educate some of the ignorant or the sheer bloody-minded who loaded up the Mercury’s electronic blogs with vitriol, spleen and bile. In many respects, I’m glad I didn’t get to read everything that had been written. It is a very sad reflection on human nature and Tasmanians in particular that so many of the people who wrote vicious attacks on Paula Wriedt appear to resent the fact that she has resigned from Parliament and walked away with $850,000 as a final settlement. I often wonder how many of these half-wits and those that suffer from malignant jealousy realize what it is like to be tagged as a sufferer of depression. In what appeared to be very sensitive article in the Mercury by Anne Mather on 19 January, Ms. Wriedt spoke of her fear about the effects of the scandal concerning her affair with her driver on her children and how she was convinced that people would be kind to them “if mummy was dead.”

Naturally enough, there will be many people in the community that will have no sympathy for Ms. Wriedt: they will be dazzled by the $850,000 and not think for one minute just how much a life in politics costs the individual in terms of time, worry, relationship problems and the need to “present themselves” as social psychologists describe. One such writer, Erving Goffman (the father of the study of symbolic interaction in interpersonal relations) in a slender tome entitled: “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” refers to the words of the late Sammy Davis Jr. who it will be recalled was black, had sight in only one eye, was a member of Frank Sinatra’s celebrated “rat pack” and despite being a brilliant entertainer had his own battle with depression. He is quoted as saying that life was difficult because: “You are always on” as in, you are always presenting yourself in public – an image that can be difficult to maintain. How many comedians and clowns have suffered from depression and committed suicide? I don’t know the answer precisely but I can say too many, because behind the funny man’s smile very often lurks deep depression and this cannot be displayed publicly. So it is small wonder that any number of gifted comedians with depression have taken drugs, hit the bottle or taken their own lives. As for comedians, so for other celebrities or public figures and politicians are no different. I am reluctant to mention Senator Nick Sherry but after being humiliated and subjected to ridicule he made a very nearly successful attempt on his own life. He has recovered fully according to friends but the stigma of “failed suicide” will always hang around his neck.

I will confirm once more that I do not know Paula Wriedt personally, having met her in public on about four occasions over the last 10 years or so and I carry no particular brief for her. However, her words had considerable resonance with me when she stated that: “For those who know anything about depression, you will understand that in suffering this insidious illness you can make unwise decisions.” And isn’t that just the truth? More importantly in some respects, she went on to say that “You can’t judge someone by how they look and how they appear.” And in a nutshell, that is the real problem. Unless a person is ready to throw themselves off the Tasman Bridge or stand on the top of a high building ready to jump, people simply do not understand and even then only through fuzzy logic. Quite apart from ignorance of what constitutes depression and its insidious and persistent nature, there are always people in our community who will look at a person and say those terrible words: “Well, they look alright; there can’t be much wrong with them.” Worse still is the fact that despite public education campaigns, depression is regarded as a sign of weakness — an antithesis of the Australian national character. Attitudes are changing but at a glacial pace.

In my extended family, one suffered prolonged clinical depression. For the most immediate relatives, it was difficult to comprehend why the person concerned went from one psychiatrist to another and in and out of mental hospitals. I visited that person in a Victorian mental hospital and for those people who have wished ill towards Paula Wriedt, I would dearly like to be able to inflict the same experience on them. How do you know someone is deeply depressed when you’re talking to them if they’re putting the best possible face on things? There are usually very few external signs except to the trained eye. The more obvious signs involve a lachrymose disposition; bursting into tears for no apparent reason. The better actors bottle it up and retreat into themselves. The lure of drink and drugs is more than tantalizing and from my own personal experience, I can say that you retreat into the darkest recesses of your own mind, experience a deep and profound loneliness and recognize all too well that the vast majority of people do not understand. Those who have not been there are not equipped them to pass comment: in fact I’d go further and say it disqualifies them from making any comment at all on the condition of others. Pig ignorance has never been a virtue in my book. Try assuming the responsibility of having someone you care for the admitted to psychiatric care and after some treatments, it is sometimes obvious that there has been a fundamental change within them.

For a number of years, I experienced something similar to Ms. Wriedt’s problems in that I refused to acknowledge myself and that something was wrong with me. But I can assure you that it is extremely difficult to quantify and explain the way the human mind tries to deceive itself and in so doing, deceive others into believing that there are no problems. I have had relatives and friends commit suicide. A particularly tragic case was a friend of my daughter, a young man of immense talent and to all outward appearances cheerful and easy-going. Of the five children in that family, he was seen as a remarkable boy in every respect. In his early 20s, he was a skilled craftsman and his work was admired by many. One night, about three years ago, he had an argument with his live-in girlfriend, stormed out from the party they were attending and when she returned to their flat, he had hanged himself from a door. I remember an extremely sad exchange with his mother, a lovely lady whom I know very well and not in the biblical sense. A year to the day later, her husband, also a very talented craftsman, who had been bothered by the pain and suffering from a double knee replacement and the loss of his son, built a gallows in his garage and hanged himself – a premeditated and carefully considered act. Just how long father and son respectively had been depressed and actively considered suicide is unclear. Both hid their feelings extremely well.

There have been many people who have commented that Paula Wriedt was not much of a politician and had served only 12 years before getting a golden handshake and some have the temerity to suggest that it is a crafty act, a tricky piece of acting to deceive doctors and specialists and obtain money from the public purse. I doubt very much whether such people will read this piece but I daresay that by now, many are wondering where I am going and why.

Jeff Kennett, whose politics I found despicable, suffered from clinical depression and has had the courage to say so in public. In the time that he has been associated with the Beyond Blue initiative, I have come to a grudging admiration for him, notwithstanding what he did to Victoria and the lousy football club he supports. In a way, Kennett helped drag depression out of the shadows and into the light. But it is not enough. I have deliberately restricted my comments in this piece to depression with examples but it is a slashing indictment of our society that illnesses such as depression are not recognized and tackled head-on until they become either highly personal, or we reach the stage when business and government add up the costs to the economy and realise that it exceeds the gains. The same may be said of other problems — smoking, drinking, obesity and gambling. Only when they are perceived to be an economic problem is any real action taken. And in the case of smoking, drinking and gambling, we have a classic Catch-22 situation. The economic costs of these activities have to be balanced against what government makes in the way of taxes from those who are addicted. This is one of the most slashing indictments of modern society. We are assessed with material possessions, carving a career path and for those who fall by the wayside, far too many people have nothing but contempt.

I have very reliable oral information on the hidden figures of suicide but it makes its way into the media rather slowly. There are plenty of people who are prepared to state that it is almost an epidemic among the young but depression in rural areas is closely linked to economic factors. A friend of mine who was once a federal politician stated that the number of farming accidents that were actually suicides beggared belief and that the majority age group was 60 and over. Accidents with tractors and ATVs and other pieces of farm machinery had long been regarded as an occupational hazard but insurance companies had started their own investigations and while I do not know whether insurance policies have been paid out to widows or other survivors because a death looked suspicious, nothing would surprise me. The decline in rural profitability has been noted as a trigger to depression and there are now rural programs to tackle the problem of our agricultural workers before depression turns to suicide.

In concluding this piece there are a few factors that I would like to mention. Make no mistake about it – depression is no respecter of individuals – it can strike anyone, anytime and under any circumstances, including times of happiness. An early diagnosis and treatment is vital. It is accepted generally that economic conditions have a profound effect on the number of suicides. The stories of bankers and other financial workers jumping from buildings to their death in the great depression of the late 1920s are greatly exaggerated because it has become part of folklore. However, with the pressures of modern day life hitting individuals and families from every side; the prospect of higher unemployment rates; an increased number of businesses going to the wall and an uncertain international outlook confronts us all. There will be few who are not touched by these problems, if we exclude those smart bastards who always managed to land on their feet or have a golden parachute. People like poor James Packer whose fortune has been cut to a mere $3 billion – it’s enough to make you weep in sympathy.

I am not the only one who thinks that the old-fashioned notion of community in Tasmania has been systematically eroded both by government action and changes to lifestyle. Tasmania has changed greatly over the past 20 years and the attitude towards Paula Wriedt is but one very public example. The lack of compassion by so many has been staggering. I wish her well and to those who are ambivalent I can only say: “Be thankful because there but for the grace of God go you,” because for every prominent person who hits the pages of the media, there is literally hundreds whose plight remains hidden. Survivors of suicide attempts invariably suffer stigma and need help and support, as for obvious reasons do their nearest and dearest. Finally, while I find the activities of the media in general to be somewhat unsavoury in many respects, I really must commend the Mercury and its management for their decision to post details of suicide support services prominently in every article connected with the case of Paula Wriedt. When she has faded from public view, perhaps they will consider continuation of highlighting the services available because they will be assuredly needed in times to come.

Counselling services are available for anyone contemplating suicide.
Phone Lifeline on 131 114 or go to www.reachout.com.au;
Salvo Care Line 1300 36 36 22; http://salvos.org.au/need-help/family-and-personal-issues/professional-counselling-service.php
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467 www.crisissupport.org.au/SuicideCallback.aspx
Mensline Australia – 1300 78 99 78 www.menslineaus.org.au