Mental health articles

Promoting the rights of people with a mental illness
Literally, stigma means a physical mark on the body. This is what was done to people with mental illness in some societies, as a way of marking them as being different. Today, people with mental illness are excluded or marked out from society in more subtle ways. It is useful to remember that society has stigmatised many types of illnesses, from leprosy to AIDS. Just as health workers have tried to challenge stigma associated with these illnesses, so too must they strive to challenge discrimination against the mentally ill.
The key to challenging discrimination is to understand why it
occurs. Of course, sometimes mentally ill people do behave
differently: a depressed person may appear withdrawn, while a
psychotic person may be aggressive. However, the main reason
for discrimination is ignorance. Not knowing the facts about
mental illness makes people fear the mentally ill. 
Challenging stigma requires that you are clear in your own
mind about the facts. Extending the hand of friendship, support and understanding establishes a role model for others in the community. Never use slang words to describe the mentally ill (such as ‘psycho’ or ‘loony’). Such words are disrespectful and increase discrimination.
You need to combat stigma at several levels of the community, by doing the following:
• Place posters  and other information materials in public spaces (such as clinics and schools).
• Sensitise key people in the community, such as village heads, other health workers, police officers, potential employers and community leaders, to mental illness issues.
• Encourage employers to give opportunities to people recovering from mental illness.
• Encourage the police to take into account mental illness by referring someone who is behaving inappropriately for medical care rather than putting him in prison.
• Encourage relatives to permit the mentally ill person to participate in activities like any other member of the family and to ensure that she gets adequate medical care.
• Encourage doctors to take the health complaints of people with mental illness as seriously as they would with any other patient.

Tags: Illness, mental, mental illness