Remarkable lives: Suzanne Rogerson in conversation with Jerome Carson
| Date | 14 August 2017 |
| Published date | 14 August 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-06-2017-0026 |
| Pages | 208-212 |
| Author | Suzanne Rogerson,Jerome Carson |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
Remarkable lives: Suzanne Rogerson
in conversation with Jerome Carson
Suzanne Rogerson and Jerome Carson
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Suzanne Rogerson.
Design/methodology/approach –Suzanne provides a short summary of her life and is then interviewed
by Jerome.
Findings –Suzanne tells us about the suicide of her father and how for years she was unable to discuss this,
before discovering she was probably suffering from complicated grief.
Research limitations/implications –Single case studies are just that. One person’s story. However they
offer us insights into suffering that cannot be glimpsed from large research studies.
Practical implications –The stigma attached to suicide means that people often avoid talking about it.
The surviving relative is thus left to carry this enormous burden on their own.
Social implications –Suzanne draws attention to the documentary made by Professor Green, about his
attempts to understand what made his own father take his life. Programmes like this can help demystify the
issues surrounding suicide.
Originality/value –People sometimes dismissively talk about psychology students choosing the subject as
they want to understand themselves and their own pathology. For Suzanne this was a liberating process.
Keywords CBT, Recovery, Anxiety, Suicide, Hope, CAMHS
Paper type Case study
Introduction
I can remember the first time I met Suzanne. She was in a class of students at Bury College.
There was something quite different about her. Her height. Her obvious intelligence. Her intensity.
I only got to teach her again in her third year. She seemed hungry for every scrap of knowledge
we could give her as lecturers and her work was of strong first class standard. When her
supervisor left the university, I got to take over responsibility for supervising her final year project.
This involved qualitative interviews with parents of children with autism spectrum disorders or
other mental health problems. Clearly a subject close to her own heart as both she and her son
experience anxiety. This connection gave her work an edge. I have no doubt that her life
experiences will lead her to become an exceptional psychologist in the future. However, let her
tell us her story in her own words…
Brief biography of Suzanne Rogerson
As a young child I was very shy and a worrier, and at primary school remember being
sent to the library for feeling sick. Looking back now, I clearly had anxiety, with the somatic
symptoms of stomach ache and feeling sick manifesting when faced with a situation
I felt unsure of. At that t ime though, children were not given the d iagnosis of anxiety, and I am
not sure how well it was u nderstood or even r ecognised. These fe elings continued
through high school a nd I was possibly showi ng signs of depressi on even then, but I do not
remember question ing why I felt like that. I knew I was very lik e my dad, who was also shy, so
think I accepted this was who I was. But because of his experiences he would always
Suzanne Rogerson is based at
the Departmentof Psychology,
Universityof Bolton, Bolton, UK.
Jerome Carson is a Professorof
Psychologyat the Department
of Psychology, University of
Bolton, Bolton, UK.
PAGE208
j
MENTALHEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
j
VOL. 21 NO. 4 2017, pp. 208-212, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-06-2017-0026
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