National Unknowing
Apr 26th, 2007 by Donagh
How many people do you know who have mental health problems? I personally know quite a few, including members of my own family. None of my family, thankfully, has had acute problems and conventional treatment has worked well. I also have a friend who has had a hard time of it, but luckily, with medication and the invaluable support of her family she has been able to get through it.
I don’t think I’m that unusual, so I have no problems being frank about this.
I had thought that mental health problems, ranging from minor depression to more serious illnesses were understood to be quite widespread. I had thought that attitudes were changing.
I was wrong. They are worse than I thought.
According to a breaking news report in the Irish Times the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) has conducted a survey which reveals that ‘80 per cent of people believe that those with mental illness should be excluded from their neighbourhoods’.
This is a huge percentage. Whatever about the populist campaigns to drum suspected pedophiles out of residential areas, this would suggest a major culling of those living in the larger housing estates sprouting up around the state. According to the IT report the survey also says that most people think that only one in ten suffer from mental health problems. The NOSP says that, in fact, its one in four.
The report also indicated that two thirds of people would hide mental health problems. No wonder, considering that admission would lead to them being immediately ostracized.
Of course, all this takes on a particular hue after the recent tragic events in Wexford. The IT report also mentions that a number of charities debated these issues two days ago in Dublin with the aim of highlighting the Government’s failure to implement a new mental health policy based on the Vision for Change document, which was published a year ago.
Needless to say, it won’t happen in the rapidly dwindling lifetime of this Government.
Update:
The Irish Times breaking news article has been updated to now say that one in five believe “that those with mental illness should be excluded from their neighbourhoodsâ€. A big difference.
Whenever I see survey results like these I always wonder about the actual questions asked, and if the people asked were asked to define what they thought of as a mental health problem.
But then again, maybe I’m just overly optimistic.
I agree with Fence on the nature of the question asked but it doesn’t surprise me that Irish people have such an ignorant attitude towards mental illness. The prevailing attitude among people is that mental illness is something that happens to other people, a similar case to alcoholism. I have noticed that many people (not just Irish) are particularly inept at recognising mental illness, particularly among manic depressives, suicides and anorexics. How often have we heard after the fact that ‘he/she seemed so happy’? Many times, with a little bit of attention you could see it coming. But then again, if feelings that the mentally ill should be ostracised are so widespread, maybe this insensitivity is not such a bad thing.
Yes, I agree and I should have looked beyond an article that was working from a press release. How can you know if there is widespread ignorance if you don’t know how the question was framed or mental illness defined. According to an article reprinted widely in the various vassels of the Tomas Crosbie media empire, the head of NSOP said “these problems can range from passing feelings of hopelessness, often in response to a negative life event, to the experience of enduring mental illness.” But I can only imagine that the definition was more specific than that and probably related to the more ‘enduring mental illness side’. The same article also said “81% of people agreed sufferers should have the same rights as everyone else, but more than half said they should not be allowed to do important jobs, such as being a doctor or nurse.”
Curiously the Irish Times article has been updated (that’s the new link) to now say that one in five believe “that those with mental illness should be excluded from their neighbourhoods”, which according to my rough calculation is, well, 20%. A big difference.
Seanachie, the survey, which can only indicate a general trend, suggests that most would try to keep it hidden, although there’s only so much you can hide. Alot has to do with the inevitable complexity of the problem. The general feeling seems to be that people find it difficult to talk to those with mental health problems.
I know one guy who’s very intelligent and sensitive on most issues but on two occasions that I know of has reacted very negatively to people who were having mental health problems. He seemed to take a strong dislike to their mild idiosyncratic behaviour. Which is weird, because he’s got plenty of idiosyncrasies himself.
I wonder if it down to that old cliche that we hate what we fear in ourselves. After all if we turn it into a problem that “other” people have then we can pretend that it’ll never happen to us.
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