Swish Family Robinson

The suggestion that Iris Robinson is receiving 'acute psychiatric treatment' intrigues me. I know counselling and psychotherapy are used at the drop of a hat nowadays....but I don't see how anyone can be 'treated' for her condition. It sounds much more likely that she's hiding away from the world, unable to face up to the consequences of her actions, and - more importantly - probably unable to face herself, to look herself in the mirror and accept the ramifications of what she's been up to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoKjTST0HeI





After all, we are usually our own best/worst critics; we know when we've really stuffed up and the pain of shame and guilt can feel unbearable. Counselling can certainly help later to explore what caused us to behave in certain ways, but there's no treatment that will work as a quick fix to make us feel better about ourselves in the immediate aftermath of such an affair. We simply need to go through the bad feelings, to experience them , to hit rock bottom, to hate ourselves for what we've done and for those we've hurt. We need to endure the shame and the guilt and the humiliation. It's only by recognising those feelings, not avoiding them, that we can learn eventually to accept that we're not all bad, that our remorse is evidence of that, and that we can grow and learn from our mistakes and become a better person as a result of lessons learned.

Talking always helps, so I guess Iris Robinson may need someone to act as a sounding-board, to help her through all this. But ultimately it sounds as if she just made some silly mistakes, born out of greed or power or lust and it's up to her now to accept this about herself and try to change.