Garden of Daisies

Being Aware of Mental Illness

August 30th, 2007

I like to think that in today’s day and age the stigma surrounding mental illness is a thing of the past. I was lucky (in some ways) to be raised in a house that dealed openly and honestly with mental illness. My father sufferred from it and from a very young age (too young to fully understand, even) my brother and I were aware of it. When I was five years old and my mother found that she could not answer all my questions she took me to see my father’s psychiatrist so that I could really understand the situation to the best of my little brain’s ability.

But the truth is that the stigma is not gone. Matthew Good, has chronicalled his struggle with discovering he suffered from bipolar on his blog throughout this past year, and apparently recieved loads of emails and comments regarding the positivity surrounding someone so open. The stigma survives and people like Good are the exception.

I even had a coworker when I worked at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health who was afraid to admit to us that they suffered from a mental illness. We were all psychologists, psychiatrists and/or students of psychology working in a psychiatric hospital and they were afraid of being judged, or misunderstood.

How is it that this is still the case? Mental illnesses are a reality that can only be made worse by ignoring them. By being open, and dealing with them, they become easier to understand and may even be curable.

Please if there is someone in your family who suffers from a mental illness do what you can to see if they are recieving the help they need. If you feel that their condition is affecting you directly seek out support groups for the families of people with mental illness. If they are going to be in continual contact with children, teach the children as much as you can about the problems.

Don’t stigmatize these people. Their problems are real, and they exist for powerful reasons. Accept them, and help them to the best of your ability.

Read what CAMH has to say about stigmas regarding mental health

Entry Filed under: Psychology