It’s a dad who is off work with stress; a mum suffering panic attacks; a teenager with an eating disorder or a lonely grandfather coping with depression. It’s a good friend who’s feeling suicidal, a neighbour’s son dealing with schizophrenia or a work colleague managing bi-polar disorder.
These are people’s everyday lives and as a society, we all need to accept that.
We’re still not relaxed about talking about mental health and just imagine yourself stood at the school gates, chatting to other parents or on the bus going into the city.
Almost all of us would be fine with mentioning a relative with diabetes, or a family friend undergoing treatment for a broken arm or leg. But, if a loved one was struggling with a mental health problem, would you have the same conversation? Probably not.
It’s true that over the last few decades’ huge progress has been made – not least because of campaigning by people and groups up and the country. But, all too often, attitudes to mental health are outdated; stuck in the dark ages; full of stigma and stereotypes.
It’s the old-fashioned view that mental health problems should be kept hidden: something to be ashamed of and somehow less deserving of our sympathy or attention than physical illness.
It means a lot of people don’t really understand what those living with mental health problems are going through and how we can help them. And that just puts more strain on the families trying to cope with these difficulties.
So it’s time for us to bring mental health out of the shadows and to give people with mental health conditions the support they need and deserve.
Words such as “mental” make the person sound like a knife-yielding maniac who is going to butcher everyone they see and yet the greatest cause of harm to someone who has mental health problem is suicide because the torment is too much to take.
The biggest problem is that we are scared; unlike the Good Samaritan, we pass by like the Priest and the Levite.
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36 - 37)
It doesn’t say the Priest and the Levite gave judgmental looks, they just walk past - are we guilty of this especially when it comes to mental health conditions?
We are too scared to get our hands dirty, too proud to be associated with the broken, too ignorant to understand the reality of what a mental illness really means.
The greatest thing we can do is provide security, trust and love but we too often abandon people.
On Monday 20th January 2014, the Government launched 'Closing the Gap: priorities for essential change in mental health' which set out the top 25 areas where immediate action is needed to ensure equality for mental health and increase access to the best-possible support and treatment.
It’s a call to action – across the NHS, the mental health sector and wider society – too champion change, to transform outdated attitudes and practices and to improve the lives of people with mental health problems.
If someone you know is experiencing mental health problems or need urgent support, there are lots of services that you can go to for help.
You can also find out more about
You can also find out more about
- the simple, everyday ways you can support someone who has a mental health problem
- particular mental health diagnoses from Mind, Rethink Mental Illness and the NHS
- how stigma and discrimination can affect people living with mental health problems like depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, anxiety, personality disorders or schizophrenia
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