“It’s time to break the silence surrounding male suicide”

Norman Lamb and his son Archie opened up on ITV News about Archie's depression and thoughts of suicide. In a very moving interview with Mark Austin they say what it is like to live with mental illness.

Archie explains:

It just takes over your head. You can't think of anything else. When you get into depression you cannot think of anything else apart from the gloom of how you are thinking. In my toughest moments you don't feel like there's any escape. … I've had those thoughts [about suicide] ever since I can remember. They're not very nice thoughts to have, obviously. It's really, really horrible and you feel embarrassed to talk about them. At the time I wouldn't have spoken to my parents about it, or my friends because it is embarrassing.

Norman says:

We've been through emotional turmoil for 12 years now. … It's really scary. When you need the NHS at that moment of crisis and it's not there - it's dire.

As Mark Austin says, "Archie Lamb's experience is more common than you would ever imagine. It is worth a watch. He is helping to break the silence." [Run the first video in this article, which has the full interview]