Various things have conspired to make me think a lot about mental health issues this week, by far the most important of which is the sad news that David J Rodger, one of the authors who has read at BristolCon Fringe, took his own life on Sunday. I didn’t know David very well, though the one time I met him he seemed like a fascinating bloke whom I would have liked to know better. Other Bristol writers did know him better, and report that he had been struggling with depression for some time. There are some great obituaries online from Jo Hall and Tom Parker.

Depression is something that I know well. So is the mental unease that comes from gender dysphoria. These two combined might easily have killed me a little over 20 years ago. Instead, thanks to some good drugs, an improving medical climate for trans people, and people who loved me, I was able to embark on the journey that is gender transition.

For many people, however, mental health problems are something they feel that they can’t talk about, and perhaps can’t even ask for help over. Judging from what Jo and Tom say, David was one such person. Suicide is one of the leading killers of men, and I wish that there had been rather more talk about it last week on International Men’s Day, instead of all the MRA nonsense about the pain of being denied sex by uppity feminists.

I have just done an interview with the wonderful Emma Newman, part of which will feature on Women’s Outlook next Wednesday, and all of which I intend to put on Salon Futura in due course. Given the nature of the lead character in Planetfall, we talked about mental health issues, and the stigma surrounding them, quite a bit.

I greatly admire the courage Emma has in talking about her anxiety issues online. We are still very much in a world where any suggestion of weakness of that sort is liable to be held against you. These days, if you are applying for a job, prospective employers will comb social media for any suggestion of character flaws. HR departments, it seems, are less interested in finding someone who will be good at the job, and more interested in screening out anyone who might be seen as “difficult” in any way.

For trans people it is even harder. The medical profession might have (partially) moved away from the idea that we are all crazy, and towards the understanding that transition cures most of our mental health problems. Society has not taken the same leap. For example, this report from California shows how trans pilots are required to prove themselves sane each year, even though the FAA’s official guidelines say it is not necessary. I have similar problems with GPs, all of whom seem to be convinced that I am likely to be Overcome With REGRET! at any moment.

Of course if you are subject to regular harassment as part of your daily life, and many trans people are, you can still have mental heath problems post-transition. Last night we had the Annual General Meeting of LGBT Bristol, of which I am a trustee. The staff spoke eloquently about how many of the people they helped had complex and multiple problems to face in their lives. Not just trans, but trans, depressed and homeless, for example. I have tremendous admiration for the people who make it their day-to-day business to help such folk.

Help is available, and hopefully is improving in quality. Shortly after talking to Emma I got email inviting me to a one-day conference in Bristol in January. It is being run by Mind, and it is focused on suicide prevention for LGBT people. If it helps just one person, it is absolutely worth a day of my time being grilled about what it is like being trans.