One in four Canadians is afraid to be around someone with a mental illness, and 46 per cent think mental illness is an excuse for bad behaviour, according to a recent poll.
The Ipsos-Reid phone survey conducted June 10 to 12 as part of the Canadian Medical Association's (CMA) eighth annual report was made public Aug. 18. Dr. Brian Day, president for the CMA, said, "In some ways, mental illness is the final frontier of socially-acceptable discrimination."
"We still operate from a moral paradigm as though mental illness was somehow your choice," said Dr. Faith Auton-Cuff, manager for Sunshine Coast Mental Health and Addictions Services, a branch of Vancouver Coastal Health.
Auton-Cuff said one way to combat stigma is through correcting our use of language. She said labels such as schizo, borderlines, depressives and jokes about people who live with mental illness are degrading and perpetuate negative associations.
"We all have a responsibility and the world will change when I, you, we take responsibility with how we treat others," Auton-Cuff said.
Glen McClughan, executive director for the Sunshine Coast Association for Community Living, said his clients with a dual diagnosis of developmental disability and mental illness have a tough time.
"Someone with a dual diagnosis has a difficult time articulating their problems; therefore, treatment is haphazard at best. They often can't work," McClughan said.
McClughan said the biggest stigma those with developmental disabilities face is that many people think a cognitive delay is a mental illness.
"A developmental disability is in no way a pathology that is to be feared or cured," he said.
Auton-Cuff said battling negative beliefs about people with mental illnesses shouldn't be so tough because it touches all our lives.
Over the course of a lifetime, she said, three per cent of people will experience a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, while 17 per cent of us will experience mild to moderate illness like depression and anxiety.
"If you had been off work because of cancer and were ready to return, they would bend over backwards to help you get back on your feet," she said. "But we don't know about people's beliefs about resiliency when it comes to mental illness. We have to get over the idea that once mentally ill, you'll always be mentally ill."
Auton-Cuff said social determinants such as poverty, homelessness and unemployment are just a few examples of causes that set people up for mental illness and that can keep people locked into it. She said the Lions Housing Society is one positive community group working to eradicate homelessness for people with mental illness.
Auton-Cuff said: "We have an amazing, open community out here where a lot of industry and businesses are really willing to allow people to get back on their feet again. Mental health and addictions are on a continuum from mild to severe. Some people have more ability to be involved in varying levels of work, which allows them to have more economic resources, which allows them greater quality of life."
She also said the media needs to take responsibility for how they portray mental illness by not highlighting those rare cases that combine mental illness and aggression.
"People with schizophrenia are far more likely to harm themselves than to harm the public. Violence is not a symptom of schizophrenia," Auton-Cuff said.
She said there are criminals with mental illness, but most violence comes from those with addictions and antisocial personality disorders.
Watch Coast Cable in October and November for spots on mental health and addictions information and for Beyond the Blues in October, a depression and anxiety screening program offered by the Canadian Mental Health Association for the last 14 years.
Getting help is the best way to fight stigma, and it is available to all on the Coast regardless of economic position. Monday to Friday, phone 604-885-6101. After 3:30 p.m. and on weekends, phone 604-740-0442. If you require assistance after 10 p.m. any day of the week, call 1-866-661-3311.
