Mental illness is not a joke
‘For persons living with mental illness, the stigma they experience can worsen their conditions, and hinder their recovery and ability to live normal lives. It can also cause persons to avoid or delay seeking help because of the fear of being judged, scorned or ridiculed.‘
WHILE WATCHING the first of three political debates last week, I witnessed a politician making a very disturbing comment. During a discussion on mental health, Dr Dayton Campbell of the People’s National Party (PNP) spoke of the prevalence of mental health and stated that, based on the statistics, there would be people in the room with mental illness but “not on this side”, meaning that his team was free from mental illness, but suggesting that persons on the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) side may be afflicted with it.
In politics, throwing barbs at your opponents, especially during the pre-election ‘silly season’, is par for the course. I get it.
But for Campbell to use mental illness to throw shade at his adversaries was wrong on many levels. Comments like that serve to fuel the stigma associated with mental illness. His comment was meant as an insult. It was meant to illuminate his opponents in a negative light, and that is exactly how stigma works, making people see those with mental illness negatively because of their condition.
As someone in a position of authority and leadership, on a public platform, his remark was irresponsible. But what makes his comment even more egregious is the fact that he is a medical doctor. He should know better. Health is defined as “physical, mental and social wellbeing”, and comment such as his only serve to fuel the stigma that can place a person dealing with mental illness in a position where their mental and social health can be compromised, and this may, in some cases, threaten their physical health as well.
IRONY
The irony in this is that while Campbell was making his remark, the Ministry of Health in the Government formed by his opponents has a programme that is committed to end the stigma against mental illness.
For those of you who are living with mental illness, or are living with one or more and do not realise it (and there are many persons in this category), you may not see the stigma associated with mental illness as a big deal. But it is. Especially to the afflicted.
For persons living with mental illness, the stigma they experience can worsen their conditions, and hinder their recovery and ability to live normal lives. It can also cause persons to avoid or delay seeking help because of the fear of being judged, scorned or ridiculed. Stigma also contributes to bullying, harassment and even physical violence being directed at persons with mental-health issues.
In my opinion, we all have a role to play in fighting the stigma associated with mental illness. One of the ways is to call out people like Campbell when they utter insensitive statements such as the one he made. Fortunately, many of us did.
Unfortunately, many made it into a political issue, when in my opinion it is not. I see no reason to politicise his comment. This has to do with Campbell. It so happens that he was in a political setting when the remark was made. I do not believe that his behaviour is representative of his party. He is a human, and humans will make mistakes and commit errors of judgement. For example, recently the JLP’s Delroy Chuck made an insensitive comment about the sexual harassment of women.
He was called out, reflected on what he said, and apologised. Prior to that, his colleague Mark Golding made a comment that was perceived by many to be offensive and homophobic. Like Chuck, he too was called out and later apologised. I hope Campbell has the maturity to do the same.