Slapped in the face....

It was a beautiful summer evening; one of those days you wish you could lock in a treasure chest so that you could open it up later on a cold night, just to remember...

It had been a long, but rewarding day.  She smiled at the warm summer evening sky and sat down to look at the evening's headlines.   All of a sudden, out of nowhere they came. They jumped on her, ripping her apart relentlessly with their sharp and ugly teeth....

 

Stigma, Prejudice and Misinformation!

 

The time is now!  

We need to break the pattern of Stigma.

 

So, it was a beautiful summer night, and I was reading the headlines, and I was attacked by stigma, prejudice and misinformation.  It was in an article that you can see here.  This article states: "now 6 months later, Americans are still debating gun control, how to keep schools safe and how to protect people from the dangerously mentally ill."  Really?

 

 



 

 

Thanks Stigma.   Thanks a lot.

The article goes on to state that the President wants "to bring mental illness out of the shadows" and that our Nation needs to take a look at mental health treatment and to "fix a broken system."  Now, I feel really exasperated.   This article makes some points that are true!  We do need to bring mental illness out the shadows.   And we do need to fix a broken system.   Why then, do they preface this information with a statement like "protect people from the dangerously mentally ill? 

 

 

Let's pretend that the article was about Influenza.   Let's also pretend that there was some prejudice and misinformation out there about influenza.  Maybe people believed that influenza was caused by poor and dirty people, and not germs.  So, the press writes an article to inform the public about influenza, and how it is spread.   They also suggest some changes in conditions that can help with the spread of the illness.  Maybe this imaginary article also contains information about how we need to look at poverty in our country, about how we need to build up the infrastructure, and make sure that everyone has access to water and soap.  So this is a very nice, informative article, until they slap in a sentence like:  Then we could protect society from the 'dangerous and dirty poor'.   How many people read past the word dangerous?  Do they keep reading to look for an answer?  Maybe some do, but I think that most would leave this article with the opinion that all poor people are dirty and dangerous, and solely responsible for influenza.

 

In an article addressing an appalling act of violence that calls for changes in public policy, how many people read down to the proposed changes, and how many people leave with the opinion that only the dangerously mentally ill are responsible for this violence?  Further, how many people read articles like this and believe that all violence is caused by mental illness, and only mental illness?  Misinformation and prejudice only create fear.  They do not help, they only hinder.   They will only cause more violence and harm.  Keep in mind that stigma is a major block to receiving mental health services.  

 

In my fury, I found another article from a blog by NIMH director Tom Insel.  You can read this article here.   Insel's blog article addresses the issue of violence and mental illness.   But it does it in an informative way that educates and calls for action.    Action like beefing up the studies for mental illness, for mapping the brain, for creating programs that actually work.  Here is an excerpt:

consider two inconvenient truths. First, while most violence has no relationship to mental illness, we must accept that some people with serious mental illness who are not treated can be violent, most often against themselves but also against others. Denial of a link between untreated serious mental illness and violence against self or others serves neither those with mental illness nor our larger society. Recognizing the link reminds us of the importance of early treatment for protecting people with illness, their families, and their communities. Second, we must recognize that although treatment is essential, for too many people, today’s treatments are not good enough.



Now that's the way to start a conversation about a tough issue!

 

 

When I read Insel's article, I don't feel like a crowd carrying pitchforks and fire are going to show up at my door and drive me out of town!   I am all for a national conversation about mental illness.  We do need to bring it out of the shadows, we do need to map the brain.  We do need to bring treatment for mental illness forward.  But we need to do this in a way that builds a bridge.  The misinformation needs to stop.

I had a really nice picture of a bridge.   I couldn't stop myself from including it!

 

 

 

We can all build this bridge.   We can do it by stepping out of the shadows.  By educating our communities about mental illness.  We can do it every day, in our daily lives.   Advocacy begins with us, and it begins at home.  Prejudice revels in the Unknown. 

There could not be a more perfect time.  I think our nation is ready to have this conversation.  I know I am. 

 

And now a message from our life coach cats: