Mental Illness as a Civil Rights Issue

[HereSince1628]

Just as people should not be discriminated against based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and a host of other issues, people should not be discriminated against based on mental health. Yet, they are, and too often.

We all know of people living with mental illness. My family, friends and colleagues are not immune to depression, substance abuse addiction, bipolar disorder and other mental health issues. The prevalence of mental illness in our society is staggering. The National Institute of Mental Illness estimates that in the past year 26 percent of the population have suffered from a mental illness in one form or another, and about 45 percent have suffered from mental illness at some point in their life. Anyone who reads this article knows someone who has mental health needs. Imagine that such a person, you or someone you know, is treated unfairly because of a mental health issue.

Recently, I met briefly with a group therapy session with Community Counseling of Bristol County. I was invited to meet with the agency because I am the local state representative, who also sits on the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. As the members of this group spoke with me, they told me about the challenges that they are faced with. Some have had problems with housing, others the police, others finding a job.

The biggest challenge this group all agreed upon was the stigma associated with mental illness. Each person articulately noted that people don't understand what it is like for them to have a mental illness such as depression, PTSD, or schizotypal , to name a few. They talked about the inappropriate ways that their family, friends and the broader society have treated them. In short, this group felt that they were discriminated against based on the presence of a mental illness or mental health condition.

More:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-heroux/mental-illness-civil-rights_b_2835768.html

[Tobin S.]

1. Yes, it is.

And a lot of well-meaning, liberally minded people sometimes engage in behavior that stigmatizes mentally ill people. If the enlightened people are doing that, you can imagine what it must be like to deal with the other half of the population that is blatantly biased.

I've said here at DU several times that I'm in the closet about my illness out in the real world. A few close friends know and my family knows, but other acquaintances and the people I work with do not know. They really have no use for the information and would probably only use to my detriment. Someone here told me that I should be completely open about it and everyone I know should know about it. In that way I would be helping enlightening the masses and fighting stigmatization. That's really easy to say when you don't have to put your job on the line to do it. My livelihood could very well depend on me keeping this information to myself, and I've got people depending on me.