The Constant Label

The label of mental illness is a source of shame enforced on those suffering and recovering from mental illness. Once tagged with a mental disorder it sticks.  It loads your insurance claim and up to December 31st of 2008 a person being treated for any mental illness was seen ineligible to do jury duty. Mental illness colours your relationships with your peers and finally and most importantly it toys with your own self esteem. Is seems ok to admit that you have snorted cocaine from toilets seats or slept your way through  your  local telephone book as once you are redeemed you  are popped back into the normal file in peoples heads. The label of mental illness however is not removed as easily. It is a sharp constant tag that although sometimes not visible can cut into your life and dismantle normal functioning. It is not something society appreciates as dinner party chat or any form of conversation for that matter.   This silence is a tooth in the zip we keep tightly shut on mental illness in general

The condition is in the place that houses our egos and our sense of self. In a society based on individuality anything that tampers with the sense of being “me” and in control, at least on a permanent basis, is seen as a threat.  Based on statistical evidence mental illness will effect one in  four in  whatever form at some  stage  of our  lives .However we still even as a relatively educated society use words such as ‘looney bin’, ‘loco’, ‘mad’ and ‘problem with the nerves’ to describe what is a medical condition. People will describe visits to the A and E with cinematic detail, walk with a see through bags displaying their own urine following surgery but will not talk about their stay in a psychiatric unit or visit to their doctor for an  antidepressant.

 Research shows that with an increase in unemployment there is a marked increase in depression. Unemployment is now a shocking reality many of us are facing.  According to Professor Dinan of UCC with our present rate of unemployment nearing 10% we will see a lot more people presenting with depression and mental anxiety.  The stigma of mental illness is and will become a daily reality, a norm we all have to deal with along with redundancy payments and the dole. In a 2004 Survey by Aware 41 out of 46 people with mental illness admitted to feeling stigmatised with 80% of people being embarrassed by the mentally ill.  The pressure of unemployment coupled with the growth of mental anxiety means this stigma will visit us in our sitting rooms and pubs. For those already balancing mental illness with the normal pressures of life the added fear of unemployment may be the hand that pushes them over the edge. A mentally healthy society accepts and does not stigmatise mental suffering. However if we still see being unemployed as a source of shame we are a long way off from dropping the shame associated with mental illness.