Lyndsay Moss: Why fear is the key to stigma over mental illness

Published on Monday 24 November 2008 19:41

THERE are few subjects that remain taboo these days. Celebrities in the jungle discuss how they lost their virginity; the "real life" magazines reveal intimate details of the infidelities and bizarre sex lives of "real people"; and pop stars and actresses are deemed abnormal if they refuse to talk about their latest boob job, tummy tuck or colonic irrigation treatment.

Given this, some think it strange that the subject of mental illness retains such as a stigma. It is true that some well-known faces have helped break down some of the barriers to discussing subjects such as eating disorders, depression and bipolar disorder. But, in reality, all they have done is held the door open for a few seconds before it swings shut in our face again, silencing the debate once more.

It is perhaps surprising that such stigma still surrounds mental health, given the effort that has gone into tackling it. Campaign groups in Scotland such as See Me are working hard to make people face up to mental health issues. As one in four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives, such work is vital.

But in much more subtle ways, the arts have been working away to make mental illness mainstream for decades. It is a frequent subject in films – think One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Girl Interrupted and The Hours. Theatre, in particular, has played its part in breaking the taboo. Recently, I was lucky enough to see two plays in the same week: Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer and Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. Both had central characters with experience of mental health institutions.

In Williams' play, young woman Catherine Holly seems to become insane after her cousin Sebastian dies in mysterious circumstances while on a trip to Europe. Sebastian's mother refuses to accept Catherine's version of events and tries to convince a doctor to carry out a lobotomy on her to protect her memories of her son. I won't reveal how Sebastian died, but, take it from me, it is somewhat bizarre.

The Caretaker also features a character plagued by demons. Aston invites a tramp to stay in his house after he rescues him from being beaten up. They have a difficult relationship, to say the least, not helped by Aston's aggressive and difficult brother. It is later revealed that Aston has suffered from mental illness and underwent brutal electric shock treatment to try to cure him.

What both plays have in common is that they attempted to deal with major mental health themes as long as 50 years ago. Suddenly Last Summer was first staged in 1958, while The Caretaker followed in 1960. If these playwrights felt able to tackle these difficult subjects so many decades ago, why now, in 2008, do we still fight to face up to mental illness?

Sadly, I think this may be a sign we are destined to keep such "matters of the mind" hidden in the background for ever. Their heads may pop up occasionally, such as the next time one of the soaps decides to feature a character with post-natal depression, but the re-emergence will always be short-lived.

No matter how many plays, films or TV programmes attempt to portray the traumas caused by mental health disorders, in most people's minds, it will remain on the stage or screen – something that happens to other people and not me.

This is where I believe the problem lies. The stigma surrounding mental illness is not so much to do with discrimination against sufferers, but the fear that we ourselves may one day fall victim to it. By ignoring its existence, it is as if we are protecting ourselves against it. But those with direct experience of mental health conditions know that this is no protection at all. Only by facing up to these things can we prepare for the unthinkable. It could be you, and the odds are somewhat shorter than for winning the lottery.

Campaigners continue anti-stigma campaigns with gusto and deserve all the support they can get.

I only hope that one day their efforts are rewarded and that the doors to an open mind on mental health are flung wide open for good.