MENTAL HEALTH

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know?
18th October 2003

	Feeling Blue? PET scans can identify depression in the brain
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There is often a great deal of stigma and misinformation attached to depression. Whilst physical illness and disability often attract concern and sympathy, depression and other mental illness, which may be just as disabling and even life threatening, are often viewed as a sign of weakness or failure.

People suffering from depression, as well as other mental illnesses, can often attract fear, hostility and disapproval and therefore it might not be surprising that more than half of people with depression do not tell their employers or colleagues about their illness for fear of being labeled as over-emotional, or weak and unstable.

Tony Caister, who was treated for depression some years ago, has himself faced such problems. “I had to be treated for depression about 8 years ago and they put on my medical notes that I was treated for a mental illness. Since then I have found that it has affected my job applications, insurance premiums-my whole future! The label has followed me around ever since.

Therefore, when my daughter T.J first came to me saying that she didn’t feel happy, I told her not to tell anyone. I just didn’t want her to have to go through what I have been through. People look at you differently when they know you have suffered from a mental illness. They are scared of you and think you are crazy and might even do something to hurt them. Now T.J. is having to have treatment for her depression, everyone will know. I just hope she won’t be labelled as being “crazy” too.”

Indeed, despite the fact that 18% of women and 11% of men have significant psychiatric symptoms in any week, people are still afraid of and hostile towards the mentally ill. In a recent survey, 19% of the public still mistakenly believe that sufferers can“pull themselves together” and 23 % thought that they are a danger to others.