Mental Health Problems remain one of the most important causes of stigma and social isolation in the modern world. This is because those who are Mentally Ill can be seen as a ‘Sign of Contradiction’; they cause embarrassment because they are different, and can often be thought to be ‘bad’ rather than unwell. This is especially concerning because one in four persons can be expected to experience a mental illness at some time of their lives.
This seminar will describe the experience of persons who suffer from the main mental illnesses – Depression, Mania, Psychosis, anxiety states and illnesses which are the result of Trauma. The seminar will describe how these conditions are real illnesses, which now can be described as involving real changes in the structure and function of the brain. The seminar will discuss the consequences of the marginalization that persons with mental illnesses suffer, and what we as ‘church community’ can do about this. Finally the seminar will discuss how living good lives is also conducive to mental health and wellbeing, while abuse and ‘man’s inhumanity to man’, is not only wrong, but also a cause of Mental Illness.
Dr Mark Agius is an Honorary Associate Specialist Psychiatrist at South Essex University Partnership Foundation Trust, A Visiting Research Associate at the Department Of Psychiatry University of Cambridge, and A Clare Research Associate in Psychopharmacology at Clare College Cambridge. After 15 years of General Practice in the UK, he moved to Psychiatry, and set up the Early Intervention Service for Young People with Psychosis in Luton, 
Bedfordshire. He then moved to Bedford and joined the Department Of Psychiatry University of Cambridge.
He now focuses on teaching and mentoring Medical Students and has carried out much research in the areas of Psychotic Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Depression and conditions caused by mental trauma. He lectures widely in Europe, including Hospitals in Slovenia, Croatia, the University of Perugia, Italy, the University of Kosice, Slovakia, and most recently has taken up the post of Adjunct Professor in Psychiatry in Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. He has links with the Carmelite order in that he is presently Rector of the Arch-confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Valletta. Dr Aguis can be reached through email on ma393@cam.ac.uk
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