Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
mental illnesslatest news & developments
Author Michelle Kekana

Road to mental wellness: Michelle Kekana and Marion Scher’s books give voice to the silent struggles within

Michelle Kekana and Marion Scher challenge the narrative, highlighting mental health as a universal human experience

This edited book excerpt ‘puts class squarely in the middle of what is a global mental health crisis’

‘1 000 nights in silence with you’: An extract by Mia Arderne

This piece by Mia Arderne from the book ‘Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality’ ‘puts class squarely in the middle of what is a global mental health crisis’

Not enough: It seems that the regular salary is not enough for young South Africans. Many turn to side hustles to make ends meet.

Mind the toxic workplace

While people are taking mental health more seriously, the commodification of workers can turn a job into a toxic space that depletes more than it uplifts

What’s your flavour? Whether your tastes run to virtual sex, sixty-nining, or bondage, you don’t have to be cishet or gender nonconforming to enjoy a touch of novelty. (Photos & illustrations: Siphumeze Khundayi and Katia Herrera)

‘Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality’ — the erotic in action

Full to the point of rupture, Touch still leaves the reader yearning for more

Graphic: John McCann/M&G

World Mental Health Day: Poverty should not determine quality of care

The Life Esidimeni tragedy is a stark illustration of how people’s socioeconomic standing affects the mental health services they are able to access

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Suicide crisis soars in South Africa

There are few programmes that deal with mental illness, so the cycle can continue for generations

NAPLES, CAMPANIA, ITALY – 2020/10/20: Schoolchildren with cognitive disabilities are helped by their teachers in a classroom with social distancing during the closure of schools imposed by the COVID19 emergency. The Vanvitelli elementary school in Naples is one of the few schools that has not closed its gates so as to assist their most fragile pupils. (Photo by Salvatore Laporta/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images)

How to recognise mental illness in children and adolescents

Children are often unable to verbalise their feelings of anxiety or depression, instead presenting with physical symptoms or odd behaviour. Diagnosis and treatment is crucial to…

(John McCann/M&G)

We should not weaponise mental illness

The case of Roxanne Joseph lays bare society’s inconsistencies about who deserves our empathy

Sympathy-privilege is a reality. If you have the right aesthetic or social positioning you can have multiple chances to re-enter the moral community with a clean slate. (Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Who decides who is eligible for forgiveness and rehabilitation?

We should give people second chances. But we need to reflect on whether a black or brown person would survive a fake cancer scandal

Roxanne Joseph lied about having cancer for nine months in 2015-16. She has admitted to this, and undergone therapy for a serious mental illness. (Twitter)

Beyond betrayal: Is redemption possible for a journalist who lived a lie?

A young reporter lied about having cancer. Did her well-connected father cross the line protecting her? And does it endanger trust in journalism?

(Danish Ismail/ Reuters)

Rapists who prey on the mentally ill

Mentally ill men and women are easy targets for rapists, who are often known to them, and they don’t always report such incidents through fear

Having trouble finding a healthcare provider that gets you? You’re not alone and the good news is there’s help. (Dayana Morales Gomez)

WHO removes classification of transgenderism as a mental illness

The WHO has recategorised transgenderism from being a ‘mental disorder’ to being a condition relating to ‘sexual health’

Jordan Raskopoulos: “When people hear anxiety

Mining joy from anxiety’s depths

That nagging fear may cause you to fall apart, but it may also serve as a call to action

(Rofhiwa Maneta)

Maneta wears his mind on his sleeve

Mental illness, feminism and racism are explored in a new collection of short stories by Rofhiwa Maneta

‘But at the end of our visits

On our ill-conceived normality: An ode to ‘the mad ones’​

In the words of Edgar Allan Poe: “Men have called me mad, but the question is not settled whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence …