Hey, I really, really don't want to jump on the bandwagon and pour self-righteous scorn onto Iris Robinson. The woman has confessed to a recent affair within a 40 year marriage. Many commentators have been exercised by the apparent hypocrisy of the situation. She is a Protestant Christian who has been quite outspoken on the alleged sexual immorality of others - in particular of the gay community, calling homosexuality 'vile'. It is not my place to judge - I, like her, am a fallible human being, capable of making big mistakes, and capable of not living up to my own standards at times. I can empathise with the shock, anger, and pain that her family, her friends, and she are going through at the moment. I have seen it enough in my life experience, and see it almost weekly in my work.

No, it is not the affair as such, or the apparent hypocrisy that has prompted me to write.

What has interested me is the religious and psychological overtones of the whole situation. Again, I need another careful caveat before coming to the point. Iris Robinson has talked about her mental illness and attempted suicide. A big part of me wants to applaud such honesty as both subjects would be considered embarrassingly taboo by many. And I am the last person to want to judge how true those claims about mental illness may or may not be. But regardless of Iris Robinson's particular mental state, what does concern me is the apparent link between religion, sexual non-conformity, and mental illness that is emerging.