It is still as though mental illness is contagious and simply talking about it is dangerous. This usually leads to sufferers and their families becoming very isolated. The fear and misunderstanding create a vicious circle that is unbreakable without courage. I know this because their knowledge of my own illness has allowed us to talk to each other without the – unfortunately common – fear of misunderstanding. I am aware of several people in my Area Meeting who have lived with various kinds of mental illness. That must mean that many more have at least second-hand experience of it. The available statistics show that ten per cent of us experience mental distress significant enough to be labelled as illness at some time in our lives. What has not encouraged me is to see how wary people (including Friends) still are of the whole subject. I have been encouraged over the past year to see several contributions to the Friend on various aspects of mental illness. Isobel Lane says that there are tools to deal with mental illness