Monday, April 6, 2015

Curing the Stigma Against Mental Illness

We recently discussed "paginas en blanco [blank pages]" of family history in my American Studies class. A common "pagina en blanco" of families was mental illness. Most of this cover-up was due to the stigma of mental illness at the time, but I'm not sure if the stigma has really gone away.
There are many forms of mental illness

Andreas Lubitz was the co-pilot of the Germanwings Flight who crashed the plane into the French Alps. It has recently become known that Lubitz was struggling with a mental illness. This revelation raises the need for a discussion about the stigma put on mental illness. Why do people with mental illness feel the need to hide it? If they confide in doctors, should the doctors sound an alarm if their patient could harm others? 

In order to fight the stigma of mental illness we need to encourage those who are suffering to open up about it. Not long ago there was a stigma against those who had cancer causing them to not tell anyone about their disease, but now public opinion has changed and everyone is more supportive towards those who have cancer. The way to suppress stigmas of mental illness is to educate the public about what the disease does to a person. In on article on Revelstoke Review a mother was quoted saying "My daughter's struggle with severe depression was more difficult for me than my husband's sudden death." The problem with our society is that when a person has a mental illness people tend to stay far away instead of comforting or being there for them. 

There is also a problem that health care providers face when it come to doctor-patient confidentiality. If they feel that someone could be a threat to others there are policies in place that inhibit them from telling anyone. It may be necessary for policy to change in order to allow doctors to identify ill parents that could be harmful to others. At the same time we have to provide a society where someone with a disability can reveal their struggle while still living a normal life. 

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