Mental Health in our current society

 

If you are aware of mental health, then you are most likely also aware of the many movements trying to erase the negative stigma that follows it. The most well known in the UK is Time to Change. The negative stigma includes sufferers of mental illness being labelled as “mad” or “psycho” for example. However, although these movements have had a large effect on how the media now presents mental health, have they changed peoples personal views and opinions?

 

It can be agreed that it will most likely be impossible to completely remove negative stigma from the world. This is evident in that concepts such as racism and homophobia still exist. But, it can be said that there is still a way to go when it comes to the stigma of mental health. For example, less than two years ago Tesco and Asda were forced to recall products for Halloween that included a costume of a man in a doctor’s coat holding an axe both of which were covered in blood. This costume was entitled “Mental Patient”. Another costume involved a man wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with a mask that resembled that of Hannibal Lecter's. This costume was entitled “Psycho Ward”. The mistake released by such large corporations obviously did not help in erasing stigma involved in mental health.

 

With that being said, the costumes were removed within two days of being released due to the backlash it caused. People were furious at the negative depiction of mentally ill people released by Tesco and Asda and were eager to let the companies know of their outrage. This was an extremely encouraging response for the world of mental health as it was evident the public are now also fighting to erase the negative stigma. This would not have happened years ago and people probably would have simply seen it as a joke. However, it is now clear that many people’s views have changed towards mental health and are quick to protect it when mocked or presented in a negative light.

 

However, although the thoughts behind mental illness being depicted as a joke in the media have changed, within everyday life we still see terms used somewhat insensitively. For example, certain illnesses are now, what could be described as, slang words. If someone is sad, which is still completely natural, they may say something along the lines of “I’m being so depressed”. Someone may also call someone who is simply angry at something “So Bipolar”, or another person who is simply clean as “OCD”. There is a definite difference between normal human emotions and traits of mental illness. The rise in mental health awareness may have had an impact on people assuming that when having an emotion must be related to mental illness.

 

The raise in mental health awareness and the many movements to erase negative stigma involved with it has been strongly effective in today’s society. Although it is still not perfect, the views and opinions towards such illnesses have improved greatly compared to the negative associations that used to follow them.

 

Written by Molly Lavender