Anne Cooke and Dave Harper
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| Is your mind made up about mental illness? This picture may dispel any doubts. Photo: Giovanni Cassanese |
It’s a sobering thought that, for many people who use mental
health services, other people’s reactions cause more distress than their
original problems. And attitudes may
even be getting worse. A recent report from
the Department
of Health found that whereas in 1997, 92% of people
questioned agreed that ‘we need to adopt a more tolerant attitude
towards people with mental illness’, in
2011 only 86% thought that we need to be more tolerant. Worryingly, young people appeared to be the most
prejudiced.
Relatively
static attitudes to mental health stand in contrast to the changes there have
been in attitudes about ethnicity and sexuality (we currently have a
conservative Prime Minister advocating same-sex marriage). It’s even more surprising given the effort
that has gone into anti-stigma campaigns. For example you may have seen the recent tube
posters or TV ads from the government sponsored Time to Change campaign. So what’s the problem? Perhaps part of the answer is what campaign ads
actually say. Or what they don’t.
