Introduction
Mental illness is still shrouded in stigma, fear and ignorance.
This new report from the Priory Group reveals that a shocking 72% of adults in Great Britain believe that there is a stigma associated with having a mental illness and describe people with mental illness as unpredictable (79%), dangerous (50%) and scary (49%). Less than half (45%) of the adult population think that people with long-term mental illnesses are able to lead independent, fulfilled lives.
Over half of British adults (52%) agree that being diagnosed with a serious mental illness and being diagnosed with cancer are as bad as each other and 57% believe that all aspects of their lives would be negatively affected if they were diagnosed with a mental illness.
Most damningly, 77% of adults state that the media does not do a good job in educating people about mental illness and 76% say that the media does not do a good job in de-stigmatising mental illness.
Mental illness does not respect age, sex, marital status, class or region, which means that anyone, at any point in their lives, can become mentally ill. Susceptibility to mental illness is part of the human condition – no one is immune. We must stop being judgmental about people with mental illness. Mental illnesses are real illnesses, just like cancer, diabetes
or arthritis.
Psychiatric patients are scared, and scarred, by their diagnoses. They are usually terrified at their initial consultation and feel that they are blamed for their illness in a way that other patients, say those who require orthopaedic surgery, are not.
The aim of this new report is to raise widespread awareness of the shocking stigma that still surrounds mental illness, particularly the ways in which it adversely affects treatment outcomes and employment options. The role of the media in perpetrating stigma is also examined.
