Notes Of Anguish

Newcastle Herald

Friday April 4, 2008

BY ANITA BEAUMONT

ANDREW Denton had no trouble

recruiting interview subjects

for Angels And ? his

Enough Rope documentary on what

is like to live with a mental

Perhaps because most people will

try to avoid talking to people with a

mental-health problem, the

subjects ? those with the illness and

their families ? were more than

to have their say and explain how

has affected their

"It's really like the last of the taboo

subjects," Denton said.

"I wanted to remove some of the

stigmas attached to it and

what many people think of

a scary

Denton's interest in mental

was partly personal.

?I?ve had a few people in

parts of my life who have been

through different mental-health

"Breakdowns, manic depression, bipolar,

schizophrenia ... and I think most

Australians are in that same

In the film, most of which was

at a mental-health conference in

Melbourne, Denton attempts to

viewers a rare insight into what it

like to lose your mind.

He talks to people such as

Jeffs, a self-confessed "poet,

and insanity consultant" who for three

decades has been tormented by the

nasty voices in her head.

Denton also talks to songwriter Heidi

Everett who struggles to stay in "this"

world every day, and whose

and demons are, to her, very real and

often rather terrifying.

Then there is Arana Pearson, who

was diagnosed with schizophrenia and

who through a workshop using

players, helps Denton understand

it is like to live with negative

bouncing around his head.

In the film, Denton is clearly confronted

by the experience.

"I was lucky, I could turn it off," he

recalled.

"But imagine going through that all

alone, all the time.

"I was really disturbed, I think I mention

it in the film that I felt really

but submerged under something

that was really not

The aim of the documentary

to dispel many of the fears surrounding

mental illness and also to nurture

understanding and generate

"We want people to watch it together

and talk about

"I hope it [Angels and Demons]

would teach viewers that mental illness

is a subject that you can talk

Denton felt that the more people

knew about the subject, the more

would prepare them if mental illness

touched their lives.

"When someone has a heart

we all vaguely know what to do, we

least know to call an ambulance, but

there is a lot of shame and a lot of

and uncertainty involved when someone

has a psychotic episode.

"I think the big thing I learned

that even in the middle of a

episode where, to the outside world

the person is going crazy, they are still

in

Denton also spoke to some of the

carers, some of whom were

young.

?That's the hidden cost, they don't

have an illness but they still have

bare the consequences of

"I couldn?t get over how young some

of those people

Angels and provides

and information about the

of those with mental illness, but

has a message that through

and acceptance comes hope.

It is the first of three powerful

to air as part of the Enough

Rope series for this

The next one is called The

Me (The Merry which airs

on June 9, followed by Kununurra in

October.

ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW

DENTON: ANGELS AND DEMONS

AIRS ON MONDAY ON THE

ABC AT 9.35PM.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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