1. MIAW is based on the false premise that there is stigma to having a mental illness.
This first full week in Week in May is being celebrated as Mental Illness Awareness Week. In celebration, well meaning mental health advocacy organizations are busy hosting events to reduce the “stigma” of mental illness. But there is no ‘stigma’ to having a mental illness. Serious mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, are real biologically based disorders that are no ones fault. Serious mental illness or ('consuming mental health services') is not, “a mark of shame or discredit”, or “a mark or token of infamy or disgrace”.
It used to be said there was stigma to being “black”, “gay”, “short”, ”tall”, “lefty”, “righty”, inny, outy or having cancer.
But over time all these groups found a cure: they simply decided that there was no stigma to having being gay, lesbian or lefty or having cancer. It was not, as some claimed, a "mark of shame" or "token of disgrace."
They killed stigma and recognized that what they were really suffering was discrimination. It’s time for mental health advocates to do the same. Fight discrimination (what others do to you) and stop running ads about how you feel about yourself (suffer stigma).
2. MIAW diverts attention away from those who are most seriously ill
The second reason I won’t celebrate MIAW is that it diverts attention away from the most seriously ill. The anti-stigma campaigns are premised on the belief that the key to reducing ‘stigma’ is to convince the public that “the mentally ill are just like you and me” and “with proper supports can recover and become productive members of society”. Hence, only the high functioning and happy appear in the promotional materials and PSAs. They focus on the 40% who may during their life have a mental “health” issue.
The efforts focus on mental “health”, not mental “illness”.
But what about the three percent to five percent of Americans who are the most seriously mentally ill -- like those suffering from untreated schizophrenia or treatment-resistant bipolar disorder? And what about the homeless psychotic, eating out of garbage cans, sleeping in cardboard homes, and living with festering wounds under layer after layer of filthy clothes because they have a mental illness than makes them unable to help themselves? You won’t find them in the Mental Illness Awareness Week PSAs.
Trying to gain sympathy and resources for serious mental illness, by only displaying the highest functioning individuals, is like trying to end hunger by showing the well-fed. And new research shows it doesn't work. There is no less 'stigma' today than when these efforts started.
Try this test. Google "mental illness" and Google "mental health". Look how many results are returned.
Hardly anyone is still fighting for people with serious mental illness. In fact, it is no longer even considered politically correct to use the term "mental illness". One must say "mental health". You are not allowed to say "patients", you are supposed to say "consumers" as in "consumers of mental health services."
The homeless people we see under twelve layers of smelly lice-infected clothing talking to themselves, fearing their hallucinations as they forage through garbage cans looking for food are not "consumers". They should be patients, but no one wants them.
MIAW is premised on the false belief that the major problem we face is that people won’t self-identify.
That is small potatoes and possibly true for those with mental “health” isssues, but it is not true for those with serious mental illnesses.
People with serious mental illness almost always self-identify. They do it through their psychotic ramblings, delusional explanations, ritualistic behaviors. It is not hard to identify people with serious mental illness, it is hard to get them treatment.
In 1955 there were 340 public psychiatric beds available per 100,000 U.S. citizens. By 2005, the number plummeted to a staggering 17 beds per 100,000 persons.
If someone is so ill they don’t know they are mentally ill, current law requires them to become ‘danger to self or others’. Rather than prevent violence, the law requires it.
While services are available to a wider swath of people with “mental health” issues as we medicalize normality, services are rarely available for the most seriously ill.
By spreading the false meme that the problem is identification, rather than the provisioning of services for the most seriously ill, Mental Illness Awareness Week celebrants—as well intentioned as they may be—do the seriously ill great harm.
Unbiased information on serious mental illness (not "mental health") for media and policymakers. Includes info on violence and mental illness, involuntary treatment, involuntary commitment, assisted outpatient treatment, AOT, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, NGRI
Childhood trauma linked to schizophrenia
ReplyDelete21/04/2012 04:55 (15 Day 11:08 minutes ago)
The FINANCIAL -- Researchers at the University have found that children who experience severe trauma are three times as likely to develop schizophrenia in later life.
Maybe children who develop schizophrenia are many times more likely to have parents with schizophrenia. And, perhaps having parents with schizophrenia exposes raises the likelihood of children experiencing trauma. I bet parents of children with schizophrenia experience trauma too!
DeleteHow would it be the life of a psycopath's child:
ReplyDeleteSome traits of psycopaths who are the 1 % of the population:
Superficial or Glib, with Shallow Emotions
Psychopaths tend to be articulate, amusing and witty. Although they may tell stories that should be unbelievable, they have a knack for doing so in a way that causes intelligent people to believe them. However, some may peg them as overly slick or insincere, alerted by the psychopath’s use of excessive flattery to manipulate people.
The shallow emotions of the psychopath are evident in the fact that many claim to love the people they have abused or even murdered. Most abandon their spouses and children, or mistreat them if they stick around. Those that do stay part of a family unit tend to view their families as possessions, existing to create a favourable impression of the psychopath to the world, and to serve his or her needs.
The emotional capacity of the psychopath is extremely primitive, comprising “proto-emotions,” or reactions to immediate needs rather than the depth of feeling that others experience. When trying to manipulate others into feeling sympathy for them or guilt for questioning their motives, psychopaths can be quite dramatic and forceful, but this is a smoke-and-mirrors display, designed to obscure the lack of emotional depth the psychopath possesses.
Grandiose or Egocentric
Arrogant and shameless, psychopaths tend to brag. They are very self-assured, cocky and often domineering. They push their opinions onto others and can’t understand why anyone would disagree with them. Most have big plans for making money but these plans tend to be unrealistic and vague. Often they do not match the qualifications and experience the psychopath possesses. However, psychopaths are adept at encouraging others to give them money to support these plans.
Read more at Suite101: Personality Traits of a Psychopath: Characteristics of Psychopathic Personality Disorder | Suite101.com
Oh heavens...let's start blaming parents again....yes, my grandfather's mother and three sisters had schizophrenia; he and his father did not. But they also escaped the pogroms of Odessa, came to San Francisco in time for the big earthquake and his fourth sister died in the influenza pandemic in 1918. Lots of traumatic events, genetics, but his mother was a loving parent whose husband was amazing and a phenomenal father....
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