Mental Health awareness and stigma.

     There needs to be a dialog about mental health awareness.  While there are many support groups and communities for those who live with mental illness, there are few for friends and family members of those people.  There is little communication about mental health directed, not at the population at large, but at those who need the help.  While it is wonderful that more people are being told that it is okay to get help, to encourage them to seek help, not enough is being discussed on the issues of erasing the stigma of mental illness.  There are places that demonstrate warning signs, and give people a place to turn to if a loved one is suffering.

     Likewise the information provided is very dry and clinical.  And this is what the resources are meant to be and there is nothing wrong with that.  However, there is precious little out there that describes what it is like to have lived with mental health issues.  Without context, knowledge is trivial.  There is also little being done to challenge the stereotypes presented.  There are many stereotypes of those who live with mental health issues such as being a psychokiller, lacking self control, having too much self pity, shy, unintelligent, using the diagnosis as a crutch, and incapable.

     The problems are, in my mind, twofold.  A person who has mental health issues is afraid to be honest with friends and family due to being stigmatized, which leads to them not seeking the treatment they need.  Secondly it leads communities to being afraid of mental health care facilities being in or around their area, reducing the amount of help available to those seeking treatment.

     So who is to blame?  I’m going to generalize and say it is a mixture between the media, and those who live with their issues.  Allow me to elaborate.  We are afraid of being stigmatized yet we are the only ones with the ability to lift those same stereotypes that we are subjected to.  People in my circle are ashamed whenever the news airs a story about a crime committed by someone who is receiving mental health treatment.  Yet, those same people are too afraid of what will happen if they make their voice heard.  There are pop culture icons who admit they seek treatment for their mental well being, but the media is uninterested.  It is our job to raise awareness every chance we get.

     I say, shame on the media for focusing only on the negative aspects of mental health.  Also, how dare the population allow their perceptions of the many to be influenced by the actions of just a few individuals?  There needs to be more open and honest dialog from the mental health community about what it is like, what we really go through, how we lead normal everyday lives, and how some of us extraordinary lives.

     It will be a long and bumpy ride for even the chance to begin to sway public opinion, but it must be done.  Too many suffer in silence.  Too many feel so isolated from the world.  What steps can we take to be heard?  Continue to do as we always have firstly, but secondly talk to people and challenge their attitudes.

     People use words like “crazy,” “nuts,” “loony,” “psycho,” and call hospitals such things as “the funny farm,” or “the nut house.”  This is offensive.  Calling someone “crazy” is like using the word “fag.”  It hurts (admitted it may not carry exactly the same weight).  Try and be comfortable with defending those with mental health issues, including (if you too have issues) yourself.  Ask them why they would say something like that.  Be knowledgeable and offer counter points.

     I was once given advice to hide my mental illness-- not everyone needs to know.  This is basically true, but that can lead to shame.  I am not ashamed to be seeking mental health treatment, and no one else should be either.  People often do not hide political or religious views.  Likewise they are not ashamed of physical ailments.

     My hope is that one day the topic can be treated with the same candor that heartburn or any other physical issue is.

--JJM