Chances are you know someone who has or has had a mental health problem. Mental disorders – like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol misuse, dementia and schizophrenia – can affect anyone, from any walk of life. In fact, they cause more suffering and disability than any other type of health problem.

Despite this, people with these conditions often attract fear, hostility and disapproval rather than compassion, support and understanding. Such reactions not only cause them to feel isolated and unhappy, but may also prevent them obtaining effective help and treatment.
 
In this article I turn the spotlight on the damaging effects of negative attitudes to mental disorders, and provide information about what we know about them. I hope to challenge you to think in new ways about mental disorders, and banish some of the myths and prejudices surrounding them.

What are mental disorders?

The term ‘mental disorder’ covers a wide range of different conditions affecting the mind. Mental disorders cause symptoms such as emotional upset, disturbed behavior and poor memory. Sometimes illness elsewhere in the body disturbs the mind; at other times hidden mental upset may fuel other bodily disease or produce physical symptoms.

What causes mental disorders?

A whole range of different factors – our genetic blueprint, brain chemistry, aspects of our lifestyle, things that have happened to us in the past and our relationships with others – play a part. But whatever the cause, people who develop mental disorders often feel distressed, helpless and unable to lead their lives fully.

Can mental disorders be treated?

The good news is that there are many effective treatments for mental disorders. These may include drugs and other physical treatments, talking treatments (psychotherapy) of various kinds, counseling and/or supporting people in their everyday lives in various ways.

A number of different professionals, medical and non-medical, may be involved in helping people who are mentally ill: General Practitioners, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counselors, social workers, and voluntary user and self-help groups.

What is stigma?

In Ancient Greece bodily signs or ‘stigmata’ were cut and burnt onto people’s bodies to mark them as different. People with mental disorders are no longer physically mutilated, but critical or derogatory attitudes can be just as damaging to them. You only have to open a newspaper, switch on the TV or go to the cinema to spot such attitudes. While the media isn’t wholly to blame for negative perceptions, every time a program, article or film portrays a stereotype or fails to clear up a misunderstanding about a mental disorder, it helps to perpetuate the myths.

Where does stigma come from? 

Stigma can arise in many ways. Mentally ill people may behave differently: a depressed person will appear sad or dull; someone who is in the elated (manic) phase of manic-depression may be unnaturally happy or irritable. Other factors, such as being seen visiting a psychiatric hospital or clinic may also mark someone as ‘mental’ or ‘psychiatric’.

Why does it matter?

The trouble is, once someone is identified as different, it’s hard for them to be accepted – no matter how hard they try. They can’t shake off the stigma and as a result they lose confidence in themselves. In time they come to believe that they are odd and don’t fit in.

Time for a change of mind

People with mental disorders continue to experience prejudice and discrimination in every area of their lives, from finding somewhere to live to getting a job. It’s hardly surprising that many people with serious mental illness end up poor or homeless. It is up to all of us to become aware of the harm we do with our negative attitudes and to do our bit to stamp them out. Whoever we are and whatever we do, we can combat the harmful effects of stigma by extending our friendship, support and understanding, rather than our judgment and discrimination, to people who are mentally ill.