Myths, misconceptions and stereotypes of mental illness: Is it time to change?
Growing up in a fairly small sea-side town was an amazing experience. People knew one another pretty well and the sense of community was rather felicitous. As children, it was very easy to be identified by face or name and told off when we were being mischievous outside home.
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This kept us in check as our parents knew where we were and what we were doing at any point in time. Rumours were powerful and people seemed to believe them no matter how imprecise or shadowy they sounded.
This town had one of the few psychiatric hospitals in the country. There appeared to be quite a lot of ‘mad people’ on the streets and I remember in those days witnessing some rather sombre incidents which I would not like to get into in this article. I did not think much of why there were that many of them on our streets at the time but on reflection, I believe they were all patients who had gone AWOL (Absent without Leave) from hospital and no one had bothered to find them. Being quite a small town, it was easy to identify our new residents, especially when they were one of the ‘mad ones’. Rumours usually emerged about why they were ‘mad’. These stories were never pleasant. How people knew these stories was and is still is a mystery to me, but such was the community.
Myths
One of the new residents I took a liking for was a middle-aged woman who appeared to be ‘happily mad’, always away with the fairies and in her own little world. Rumour had it that she was ‘mad ‘because she was a witch and had ‘eaten all her children’. Apparently, she had lost three babies one after the other days after they were born. People mocked and called her a witch. She was scorned and treated with unimaginable haughtiness, in gaiety. Another was a man who died of starvation in a public toilet.
Rumour had it that he was ‘mad ‘because he slept with his friend’s wife and was cursed. Another gobbledygook. These two are diminutive examples from many rumours we heard about mentally-ill patients who somehow became part of the community, very ill and left to survive in their ‘madness’.
Years down the lane, these myths, misconceptions and stereotypes of the mentally ill still exist and continue to eat painfully and deeply into the fabric of our society. It is heartbreaking to find that people who suffer mental ill health are treated with such antipathy due to these misconceptions we have.
Our extreme sense of religion has somehow made us severely negative judges, making things more disastrously difficult for the mentally ill in our society. Rather than seeking treatment, people are shackled and starved at prayer camps and all sorts of other places where they believe they can receive healing. We have made people who suffer mental ill health believe that they are depraved and profligate individuals, dejected, despondent, remediless and in absolute despair. The media has also portrayed mental illness as a grave misfortune for the unfavoured who deserve punishment.
Dispel the myths
The myth that mental ill health is caused by punishment due to all these mumbo jumbos need to be dispelled within our society. The fact is that the causes for mental illness are broad and, like any other illness, there is a cause. The causes for mental health have been intensively studied, and it is real. We are in the 21st century and we need to try and understand mental illness and help the affected as it is more prevalent than we think.
Mental illness is caused by a wide range of factors. Social disadvantages, including poverty, debts, stress, drug and alcohol use, social isolation and loneliness and physical causes, including physical health problems, childhood abuse (physical, emotional, sexual and neglect) trauma, death of a loved one and homelessness are all causes of mental illness. Remember, everyone is different and we all have different predispositions to mental illness. What can trigger mental ill health for one may not for another individual.
Now let’s go back to the woman who was called a ‘witch’ and had ‘eaten all her children’. Think about the unbearable trauma of a woman losing three children, three different times, at birth. Would we rather not show compassion, pity and sympathy? Should we add to her distress by calling her a ‘witch’ farcically and allow her to walk naked on the streets, looking on unperturbed until she dies painfully?
I believe we have all heard or rumour-mongered stories about individuals who suffered or are suffering mental ill health. Let us think about their circumstances and walk a mile in their shoes. Let us think about their life experiences, their physical health, etc. and not judge them. No one would choose to have a mental illness as no one would choose to have a physical illness. It is time to get rid of beliefs that shape our responses to mental illness. It is time to change!