Nine Out Of Ten People With Mental Health Problems Are Prisoners Of Stigma Shocking New Research

Main Category: Mental Health
Article Date: 21 Jul 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Millions of people with mental illness are unable to do everyday things like going to the shops, making new friends or applying for jobs, groundbreaking research reveals.

The pioneering survey of more than 3,000 people with mental health problems clearly reveals that this includes people you expect to love you unconditionally, your family, (36%), closely followed by employers (35%), neighbours (31%) and friends (25%).

At the other end of the discriminators' league table, children (5%), teachers (8%), shopkeepers (10%), and public transport workers (10%) are revealed as the groups who are most accepting of people with mental health problems (for the full league table see notes to editors below).

The findings, which will shape a high-profile £18 million mental health anti-stigma campaign, reveal that:

Nearly nine out of 10 people with mental health problems have been affected by stigma and discrimination, with two thirds saying they have stopped doing things because of the stigma they face. Stigma stops people with mental health problems from doing everyday things such as applying for jobs, making new friends, and going out to pubs and shops. It can even prevent people from reporting a crime.

People with mental health problems want the anti-stigma campaign to target schools and the media to change attitudes and reduce prejudice.

Carers of people with mental health problems also stop doing things because of the stigma and discrimination that they face.

Paul Corry, Rethink's director of public affairs, says: "Our research clearly shows that stigma and discrimination are ruining people's lives. People with mental health problems have enough on their plates without facing additional pressure caused by other people's archaic and bigoted opinions.

"The Moving People anti-stigma campaign will lay firm foundations for ending mental health discrimination in the UK, but long term it is essential that the government ploughs hefty resources into tackling the problem, as has been done in Scotland and New Zealand. As an employer, the government could also lead by example and employ more people with mental health problems within its departments, and encourage other public sector bodies to do the same."

Janey Antoniou, who has schizophrenia, recalls one example of the stigma she encountered: "I had a neighbour who used to run inside when she saw me because she had once seen me taken to the hospital by the police in my dressing gown. The fact that I'd walked down the road with a briefcase thousands of times seemed irrelevant."

The "Stigma Shout" survey was carried out by mental health charity Rethink on behalf of Moving People, England's most ambitious programme to end the discrimination faced by people with mental health problems, and improve the nation's wellbeing, funded with £18m from the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief and evaluated by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London. Rethink is leading the anti-stigma campaign part of Moving People and intends to reach 30 million people across England in an attempt to challenge attitudes and change behaviour.

The anti-stigma campaign will be launched in January 2009.

Rethink
http://www.rethink.org