Patsy Flanagan in conversation with Jerome Carson
| Pages | 174-177 |
| Published date | 13 August 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-07-2018-0026 |
| Date | 13 August 2018 |
| Author | Patsy Flanagan,Jerome Carson |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Patsy Flanagan in conversation with
Jerome Carson
Patsy Flanagan and Jerome Carson
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Patsy Flanagan.
Design/methodology/approach –Patsy provides a short background to her life story and is then
interviewed by Jerome.
Findings –Patsy shares with us a journey of suffering that started when she was only five, to
today where she feels she has been saved by motherhood and would like to save others throughher books.
Research limitations/implications –Case studies illustrate the complexities and the richness of human
experience and help us understand mental health and mental illness better.
Practical implications –Patsy makes a heartfelt plea to those contemplating suicide, “I beg of you,
reconsider. Life can improve”.
Social implications –To tackle the mental health epidemic we are witnessing, Patsy says we must start
conversations about mental wellbeing in childhood. Schools have a vital role to play.
Originality/value –Patsy states that creativity and empathy can arise from suffering. Her own story bears
witness to this.
Keywords Education, Depression, Spirituality, Motherhood, Suicidality, JK Rowling
Paper type Case study
Introduction
I have known Patsy for three years. Over thattime I have read and marked several of heressays.
Sometimes that is how I get toknow our students, through how they express themselves in their
assignments.This often reveals theiruniqueness of thought. Yetthe story Patsy tells in these pages
is not one that was familiar to me. How many of us hide the wounds we all carry, for no doubt a
variety of good reasons? This blinds us to the richness of the human spirit and the triumph of
survival againstthe odds. When I was a clinicianI sometimes reflected thatthe only reason I sat on
one side of the room and the client on the other was because I had experienced a certain set of
circumstances that was more favourable to methan theirs was to them. Like many, I was always
consciousof the saying, “There but for the grace of God go I”. Patsyhad just such an unfavourable
background, but let us hear the remarkable story that Patsy has to tell in her own words…
Brief biography of Patsy Flanagan
My earliest thoughtof suicide was aged five. There are somewho would doubt the validity of this
statement.Of course, I was unaware of the word“suicide”and I was not clear about what it meant
to die. But I knewI did not want to be a person anymore,and I strongly suspected thatit might hurt
to achieve such.In comparison to the pain of life though,it felt preferable. My otherearly memories
were of violence; screaming and tears and the crashingsounds of picture frames being thrown at
walls. My mother crying. My sister, a toddler, also crying. My father, a terrifying tower of rage and
me. And me an empty shell of a person who somehow felt responsible for it all.
We, my mother, my sister and I, ran away from that home in the middle of the night and although
the thoughts of death stopped for a while, my mental health was still wavering. I had extreme
anxiety for much of my childhood and continue to suffer with anxiety on occasion to this day.
Patsy Flanagan is based
at the Department of
Psychology, University of
Bolton, Bolton, UK.
Jerome Carson is Professor of
Psychology at the Department
of Psychology, University of
Bolton, Bolton, UK.
PAGE174
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 22 NO. 4 2018, pp. 174-177, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-07-2018-0026
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