How Do You Stop The Stigma Of Mental Illness?
76Stigma And Mental Illness
There are legions of people who have been touched by stigma some time in their lives. Stigma kills. It is unhealthy for the person who is coping with it. It is a negative label to identify someone with. People with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or obsessive compulsive disorder suffer from a measurable amount of stigma. It is believed if you have a mental illness you may be violent, a killer, or even a sex offender. This is not always true.
It doesn't necessarily mean because you have a mental illness you are any of those things. People without a mental illness, or the above mentioned disorders commit crimes that are horrendous and claim no mental illness. So the myth is not true that all mentally ill people are criminals.The media is responsible for many of the ideation's that persist about people with mental illnesses. When the news broadcasts that a person charged with murder is found mentally ill, it casts a stereotype that embraces millions of people and inflicts a heavy stigma. Characters are often portrayed as hostile, dangerous and unpredictable, 70 % of the television characters with a mental illness are violent.
This very stigma discourages families that have bipolar, schizophrenia or ocd from getting the help they so desperately need. For the fear of being persecuted, discriminated,and stereotyped against they continue to hide in shame. Stigma is about disrespect. Comedians often make fun of people with mental illnesses, using their disability as joke.
Approximately 23 percent of the US population suffer from a mental illness and half of those never get the help they need because of the stigma of mental illness. Today, most people can lead productive lives within their communities thanks to a variety of support, programs, family and/or medications.
Things You Can Do To Battle Stigma
- We need to start using a more respectful language, stop using terms like fruitcake, nut case, freak, crazy and lunatic. Mental Illness can strike anyone at any given time.
- We need to build awareness and compassion for those that suffer from a mental illness and not label them. Many people have wrong and damaging ideas.
- Getting precise facts and information may help change their ideas and actions. Educate the public about mental illness, and how stigma misleads many of us into fear that is not rational and not accurate.
- Break down the barriers of ignorance, prejudice, or unfair discrimination by promoting education, understanding, and respect.
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Great article. You're wrong though when you say those who don't have a mental illness commit horrendous crimes. They are mentally ill, or at least they're absent of being mentally healthy.
Mentally healthy people do not commit crimes and plot destruction against others. Keep writing and pushing the idea that mental illness needs as much concern as any other bodily illness. The two relate to each other.
Facebook, April 22, 2012
Mental health services in Canada: WE NEED TIRES ON THE RUNWAY -- NOW!
Undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, so many are suffering alone...
The current paradigm for Mental Health treatment in Canada - if one is even fortunate enough to get medical attention is:
* Medical assessment, diagnosis (accurate? misdiagnosis?)
* No follow up support
* Medication is thrown at the 'official' diagnosis with the hope that it may 'stick'
* Patient is on his own to sink or swim and never seen again unless there's a massive crisis.
The new Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Dr. David Goldbloom, "sees a new wave of interest in mental illness..." WELL, isn't that grand?
*A new Mental Health flagship organization, "Partners for Mental Health" is 'separating from the Mental Health Commission to be independent as of April 1, 2012. Dr. Goldbloom has turned over the helm of "Partners" to Jeff Moat, a MARKETING EXECUTIVE from the financial and petroleum industries... oh, okay, he also worked with NFP Canadian Blood Services.
* So we're going to have a multimillion dollar MARKETING campaign to 'raise awareness' about mental health. Well, say... isn't that swell!
Hope Floats: Until recently I felt cautiously optimistic that we might at last be moving forward on the mental health front; what with huge financial donations to CAMH, the TVO month-long series “Mental Health Matters” and the recent high profile media campaign with the support of Bell corporation.
Balloons Burst: Lame, rhetorical statements by Dr. Goldbloom in Andre Picard's article... "David Goldbloom on how to move the mental-health strategy forward". Is he a politician or a healing physician?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-hea
Key words: try; a little; really small group; don't control the resources/money; $110-million investment in action research to figure out HOW!; findings will be important; strategy... will be a lot closer to the runway, but it's not tires on the runway; (repeats) we don't control the resources, can only provide guidance not make policy; a really important issue (REALLY? More like a massive crisis!); going to be difficult in these times of 'fiscal restraint'.
Dr. Goldbloom’s actual quotes:
"It's a great opportunity to reach beyond my immediate patients, families and institutions and try to change the landscape a little for all those who will face mental health challenges in the future."
"We're a really small group and we don't control the resources, the money."
"a $110-million investment in action research to figure out how we can best meet the needs of people who are homeless and mentally ill. It's already having an impact and the findings will be important."
"The strategy itself will be a lot closer to the runway but it's not the tires on the runway. As I said, we don't control the resources, so we can only provide guidance, not make policy."
"We're going to keep at it because mental health is a really important issue. We need to find ways to capture the public imagination."
"It's going to be difficult in this climate of fiscal restraint. In Canada, our solution to problems has always been to throw more money at them. We can't count on that any more. We have to be more creative, more innovative."
Yes, crucial messages bear repeating:
Mental health services in Canada: WE NEED TIRES ON THE RUNWAY -- NOW!
Who is going to step up and get the job done? I'll be first in line to devote time and energy to practical solutions.
Thank you for you insightful words, they meam a lot. We have to keep fighting stigma so we can feel like we belong as much as the next sane person. Thank you for your great comments.
Great hub, crazybeanrider. Stigma as a form of rejection does literally kill. Rejection weakens our immune system and stigma leads people to withdraw and isolate when they really need to interact more in order to get better. I love the "let it be a brighter day" pic. Thanks.
I cannot understand the distinction between mental and physical illness. Mental illness is caused by the brain, and the brain is a physical organ of the body, so therefore mental illness is physical illness. Why people see differences between the two makes little sense to me. I also think that there is only a stigma, if people allow there to be. I have had a lifetime of one mental illness or another, and I have never even considered hiding this fact. I am not ashamed of it at all. In fact, I consider my various conditions as the only interesting things about me. It is those who discriminate against those with mental health problems who have the real problems, because they are ignorant and can have no understanding of an issue which goes above their heads.
Thank you for reading and commenting htodd.
Great hub
Thank you Moment in Time for reading :)
Excellent Hub! There is a real stigma about Mental Health issues.
Thank you dr c for your comments. I have been on a vacation of sorts from writing. Yes it is a bipolar thing. I so appreciate it when folks like yourself recognize the things we are trying to make better through awareness and knowledge. That there doesn't have to be that negative dot of darkness on mental illness if we can spread the experiences of how we maintain in the world. Thank you :-)
Hi-
you write on a topic close to my heart, I feel really strongly about how people with mental illness are treated differently - from HMO's to workplaces & schools and how their concerns are often downplayed or frankly ignored. It is very courageous to write about such personal topics, hope to hear more from you.
http://hubpages.com/hub/psychosis
I'd like your opinion, its a Canadian piece though, just added info about research into stigma and some other university studies going on here. I hope to link my mental health articles to a local program site. Stay tuned! ( :
Thank you for your comment. I also think that many are given a diagnosis more freely than not. It is easier to throw a prescription and hope for the best than perhaps seeking out therapy and possibly a short term med regimen.
Mental health should be a social problem. But unfortunately it isn't. It is a society that frowns upon those that have a mental illness. The "crazy" card has been played so many times, that when someone with a real illness shows up in the courts, so what? The question they ask is "why should we get off just because were crazy" I have heard it to many times.
Society needs to be educated. They need to be willing to learn that mental illness is not something one chooses when times are tough. But something that strikes at any given time. That you just don't turn "crazy". They need to know that those words sting, and are hurtful. But in my experience I don't see much improvement of that happening. I do what I can to empower myself, to teach my community that people with mental illness's are not monsters waiting in the wings to hurt you or your children.
Thanks for the recommended sites, I'll check them out.
I believe that only 1% of violent crimes are related to any diagnosable mental health condition. The media always puts a mental health spin on crime, at the expense of informed journalism. Often they don't even properly source their information (....so and so has mental illness says an anonymous neigbour.....). Another problem is that diagnoses are too broad and I think made to often, just in order to help people who are going through a bad time. My position is that good mental health is not just an individual problem, its a social responsibility. There are some interesting web sites and resource links for more info. Try googling -The Force BC- (an advocacy group site with great links) and google -Just Therapy- (an Australian site). Anyway, good hubsite.
M
intrstng!
Well as my user name says, crazy. I think using humor and having a sense of humor to battle a mental illness is something everyone should absolutely have. Unfortunately not everyone has that. I try but my humor meter probably isn't that high. I think it is great that you can deal with your EAD and bipolar without meds. I bet it gets tough sometimes for you. I know what you mean about meds. I commend you not taking them. And taking a stand against them and living your life as best you can without a cloud hanging over your head.
I am crazy, nuts, and even bonkers. I am mentaly ill. I have been diagnosed with many diffrent things. I suffer from EAD (Explosive Anger Disorder) and I am bipolar. The best way that I have found to get people to know that I'm not any diffrent than anyone else is to make a joke out of it. I tell them that my EAD makes me turn everything I am feeling into rage and that bipolar makes my moods go haywire. I deal with the it the best that I can without medication because it makes me feel like zombie. Like I am not living life but just going through the motions. I get some laughs and they get that I am who I am. I can't help the way that I deel with stuff so they need to except it. Humor is the best educater. You just need to quit taking yourself so seriously. I was told that you can't take life to seriously or that you'll never make it our alive. I can't say so much as that it is true but it makes a lot more sense than being offended all the time.
crazybeanrider Hub Author 5 days ago
Thank you so much for your insight and kind comment...Mental illness is often invisable, so many suffer alone....