Singer-songwriter and former dual-athlete Niall Breslin - aka 'Bressie' - today made an impassioned statement to the Oireachteas Joint Committee on Health and Children regarding mental health, detailing his life-threatening struggles as a child.
My passion is built upon personal experience whereas a teenager I simply did not have the capacity to cope with an utterly dominant anxiety disorder that seemed hell bent on robbing me of my character and personality at every available opportunity. Crippling insomnia, harrowing panic attacks and incomprehensible self-harm dictated my life, all disguised behind a mask of normality that polarised the general lazy stereotype or label we associate with those with a mental health illness,
the Blizzards frontman told the Oireachteas.
The quiet guy in the corner who has no friends, the guy who keeps himself to himself. I was none of these things, yet I continuously failed to comprehend why I couldn’t breathe some nights, or why my chest constantly felt as if a cavity concrete block was placed upon it, while that perpetual ruthless nausea became an all too common part of my life.
Renowned for his frequent public addressing of mental health and the lack of awareness surrounding the issue, Bressie co-founded A Lust For Life - an organisation which promotes wellbeing - in 2015.
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