GP Pulse 03.2010 - The Royal New Zealand College of General ...

COLLEGE
‘More important than being an All Black’
John Kirwan and mental health
Professor Bruce Arroll
General Practitioner, Auckland
John Kirwan became famous through
his sporting achievements. His work for
mental health in New Zealand will leave
a similar legacy to Sir Edmund Hillary.
Political Plenary
Early 2008 I was seeing a man in his forties
with depression. I made the comment
that the whole process of talking about
and treating depression had been made
much easier by the work of John Kirwan
and the patient agreed. In a television
campaign (which can be seen on the
website www.depression.org.nz), John
tells people about his experience with
depression and offers hope and advice
on how to get help. I and many of my
colleagues were hugely appreciative of his
work and it occurred to me that John may
not have been aware of this. Via email,
it turned out that he was not aware of
GPs’ enthusiasm for his work and was
pleased to get the message. The next
step involved getting him the Meritorious
Service Award from the College of GPs.
Tim Kenealy was very pleased to be dual
nominator. He has been photocopying
pages from John Kirwan’s biography for
his patients for many years. The application
was supported by the awards
committee for presentation at the annual
College Conference in Wellington in
September 2009.
The official citation read: ‘John Kirwan
was born in New Zealand in 1964. He
was an All Black from 1984 to 1994 and
during his career he scored 67 tries
in all matches for the New Zealand
All Blacks. This record stood for
many years. In health his contribution
Professor Bruce Arroll pays tribute to John
Kirwan’s achievements
of depression. GPs in New Zealand
are grateful to him for making it easier
for male patients to come forward and
discuss depression.’ It’s interesting how
far his work goes in the community.
An old friend who is a barrister in the
Family Court said that he frequently
There was a 19.1% decline from the Maori
suicide rate in 1998 and a 46.6% reduction in
the youth suicide rate since 1995
John Kirwan with his College medal
has been as the face of the National
Depression Initiative. Market research
has found a 96% recall of the ads, which
is considered extremely high. Nationally
there has been an increase in the
public’s ability to recognise symptoms
makes reference to John Kirwan when
dealing with men who are depressed
about marital separation. I spoke with a
geriatric psychiatrist who says that she
can now get elderly men in to groups to
talk about depression.
10 | GP PULSE | MARCH 2010