Finding humor in struggles of mental illness

From The Chronicle Herald in Halifax, Canada:

A first visit with a psychiatrist isn’t usually a laughing matter but for Bruce Miller it was a source of comedy material.

As he tells the story, he was nervous and the psychiatrist didn’t know all the history that led up to his visit. The doctor asked Mr. Miller to start from the beginning.

“So I said, ‘Well, in the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth …’”

Mr. Miller follows that up with another crack: “What’s the difference between a psychiatric patient in a mental hospital and the psychiatrists?” he asks. “The patient really doesn’t believe that they’re God.”

Mr. Miller, who lives with anxiety and depression, has taken the bold step in recent months of trying out his standup comedy skills at variety shows. Some of his material deals directly with his mental illness.

He’s also co-ordinating a program that will provide standup comedy instruction to others living with mental illnesses, culminating in a pair of performances next year.

In October, the Healthy Minds Co-operative, a group meant to give users of mental health services and their families a voice in the development of those services in the Capital district health authority, got a $29,000 grant from the provincial Department of Health to fund a local session of the program Stand Up for Mental Health.

The year-long program, which uses the slogan “Not only do you have to be nuts to do standup comedy, in our program it’s a prerequisite!” is led by Vancouver-based comic and counsellor David Granirer.

Mr. Granirer, who also has depression, will lead 10 to 12 local participants in 20 training sessions via teleconference and Skype, an online phone and video service, said Francine Vezina, executive director of the Healthy Minds Co-operative.

He’ll then be on hand for one-on-one work ahead of shows planned for mental health awareness weeks in May and October.

Ms. Vezina said from video she’s seen of the program in other locations, the training boosts confidence and can help people with mental illnesses see the funny side of some otherwise difficult situations.It also confronts some of the stigma that exists around mental illness.

“There’s a lot of misconceptions out there and I find a lot of the comedians try to beat those down,” Ms. Vezina said.

Mr. Miller said he’s been dealing with mental illness, which he controls with medication, since 1987. But it’s only in the last three or four years he’s embraced it as part of his identity and just the last few months he’s made an effort to talk about it publicly.

He said it’s daunting to discuss a mental illness with neighbours or co-workers, and much more so to joke about it on stage.

But he said he’s found the response to his openness has been very supportive.

“Part of my doing this standup stuff is to change people’s perception of what people are like who live with a mental health issue,” Mr. Miller said.

Mr. Granirer said Stand Up for Mental Health reaches audiences in a way other stigma-busting efforts don’t.

“It’s a totally different way to talk about mental illness, so people who would normally not come to a presentation on mental illness will come because they hear it’s funny,” he said.

And any awkwardness people might feel about taking a light-hearted look at a serious health issue fades away when they discover the comics are not making fun of people with mental illnesses, they’re talking about their own experiences, he said.

Mr. Granirer has been involved in more than 200 shows with at least 100 different comics since 2004. He said he’s seen participants emerge from the isolation that often accompanies mental illness and come back into the world.

Mr. Miller said he’s already had that rush from his fledgling standup experiences and he looks forward to taking part in the program.

“There’s a lot of stress people are under and in particular, mental health, that sucks the life out of the people who experience the mental illness,” he said. “You need to have some kind of excitement or change in view of the mental health stuff and humour, it kind of brings those endorphins into play and it helps you to feel good.”