A 2013 Mental Health Round Up

     I can certainly say that 2013 has been another big year for mental health. the year has seen increases in media coverage on mental health; some good and some bad. The beginning of the year saw Time To Change's advertising campaign come on to our telly boxes, encouraging us to talk about mental health and to break down the wall of stigma that surrounds it, mid-year saw Stephen Fry opening up and talking about his experiences of suicidal feelings and his previous attempt last year, and only a couple of months ago saw the outrage at Tesco, Asda and Amazon and their selling of 'mental patient' Halloween costumes, as well as Thorpe Parks offensive 'Asylum' 'attraction' - just to name a few

     In this blog post I have compiled a list, like I did last year, of this years biggest stories on mental health.

     January saw the TV screenings of Time To Change's advert on mental health stigma, encouraging viewers to start conversations about mental health, with an aim to remove the 'fear and awkwardness that stop people from talking about mental health' [1], this time focusing more on people that do not necessarily have much knowledge about mental health but helping them to feel that they can start a conversation.

     May 16th saw Parliament give another debate on mental health, following the landmark debate that occurred last June; where a number of MPs spoke out about their experiences of mental health problems for the first time. Paul Burstow, Charles Walker and Madeleine Moon initiated the debate, and covered a wide range of subjects including: the addressing of inequalities between physical and mental health services; discussion of improving acute and crises services; tackling the issues of the inequalities experienced by ethnic minority in mental health services; talks over making improvements to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA); as well as talks over providing better support for people with mental health problems wishing to enter the workplace, as well as, working with employers to build better support working environments. If you wish to read more you can read the proceedings in the Hansard here.

     Early June saw Stephen Fry speak out about his experiences of bipolar disorder, suicidal feelings, and his suicide attempt last year. Whilst Fry has been commended for his openness and raising awareness of bipolar depression and suicide, unfortunately there have been one too many insensitive troglodytes making sarky, misinformed comments - highlighting that there is still quite a way to go in tackling mental health stigma.

     July witnessed BBC 3's 'It's A Mad World Season', a week of programmes that covered a wide range of topics surrounding mental health, similar to the project carried out by Channel 4 (Channel 4 Goes Mad) in the previous year. The week saw the broadcasting of a number of documentaries and programmes that explored mental health units, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, suicide, eating disorders, as well as delving into other issues such as the wall of stigma that surrounds mental health, as well as the effects of funding cuts to health services.

     In August Time to Change launched its 'It's time to talk' campaign, with an aim to stamp out the stigma surrounding mental health, as well as encouraging others to talk about mental health. Ambassadors such as Frankie Sandford, Ruby Wax, Rachel Bruno, Russell Kane and many more wore #TimeToTalk temporary tattoos and took to social networking sites to help further the campaign.

My #TimeToTalk tat

     Late September experienced an uproar when supermarkets Asda and Tesco, as well as on-line retailer Amazon, were selling 'mental patient' fancy dress costumes. After many complaints and petitions, the supermarkets, at last, withdrew these 'costumes', apologized and made donations to mental health charities. Whilst such an atrocity should have never happened in the first place, this gave us an opportunity to see the work we have ahead of us, as well as how many people are willing to stand for mental health and challenge the prejudices and stigmas that surround it.

     October saw another uproar, at Thorpe Park's 'The Asylum'. The 'attraction' included walking through a mock psychiatric hospital, whereby 'actors' would pretend to be mental patients; some of which jumping down from fences, jumping out onto visitors and others chasing them with chainsaws. Thousands signed a petition to urge the park to close the 'attraction' and to rename it. A spokeswoman for Thorpe park said that there are going to be meetings at some time after the new year; as of yet, however, we are still unsure as whether such an appalling attraction is yet to see another year.

     2013, in my opinion, has been a notable year for mental health; it has seen quite a few bricks removed from the wall of stigma; however, more still needs to be done - not only to keep breaking down this wall, but also removing those stubborn bricks, as well as preventing these bricks being piled back on. Let us see what 2014 has in store.

Wishing each and every one of you all the best for the new year!

BMNM.

[1]  http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/about-us/about-our-campaign/start-your-conversation-2013

'Mental Patient' Costumes - A Blessing In Disguise

     I am pretty sure if you have got your finger on the pulse you probably would have heard about the supermarket chains Asda and Tesco, and online retailer Amazon being caught in a uproar for selling Halloween costumes entitling 'Psycho Ward' outfit and 'Mental Patient' fancy dress costume. These costumes included ragged clothing, fake blood, a mask, and a fake meat cleaver or an orange boiler suit with a plastic jaw restraint as well as machete to "complete the look".
     After a storm of complaints and outrage from customers and people on social networking sites these companies subsequently withdrew these offensive outfits from sale, have made apologies and will be donating to the mental health charity Mind.
     Unfortunately there have been one-too-many troglodytes saying '...if you don't like the outfits then don't buy them....what's all the fuss about?' It's times like these I face-palm myself and try to keep myself calm over the frustration as to how someone could be so callous and ignorant, but if it still needs saying until I'm blue in face then I accept the challenge.

Sometimes I ask myself why I bother...
...but then I remember why.

     It is quite astounding, and worrying, to think that 'intelligent' (seriously considering whether this is the right word to use or not), successful people of these large companies would ever think it would be okay to do something like this - did they consider to sell outfits depicting cancer, diabetes or coronary heart disease as well? When were they born? 1847? The hard work that every single mental health charity, campaigner, activist, or volunteer does to try and break down the wall of stigma and then you have these buffoons pilling on more bricks and cement.
     It is things like this that re-enforce the unfair, incorrect negative stereotypes of mental health and mental illness - that we are blood-thirsty, violent, cannibalistic murderers. When actually people with mental health problems are far more likely to be a victim of violence. It is things like this that make people treat individuals with mental health problems as second-class citizens or as targets of abuse. Having a mental health problem in itself can be a struggle; without the additional layer of guilt or fear of social persecution or abuse making everything worse. There are thousands people with mental health problems who are not receiving the help and support they need - it is not just down to the lack of resources and funding available, but also fear of reaching out for help (from a GP, friend or family member) and receiving nothing in return except contempt, abuse and guilt. 
     Now when I title this blog post '...A Blessing In Disguise' I mean it in the sense that these companies idiotic actions have given a great opportunity for mental health charities, campaigners, activists, people with mental health problems and thousands of others to raise awareness and to help end mental health discrimination - to tell everyone that this kind of behaviour is not okay and that we should be treated with the same amount of care and respect as everybody else. Thousands upon thousands of people took to Twitter and Facebook to show everyone what a real #mentalpatient looks like. Do you know what they look like? Like you and me.
     If you would like to know how you can help end mental health discrimination check out Time To Change.

BMNM.