Time to put mental illness on our agenda

According to the World Health Organization's 2001 World
Health Report, mental illness accounts for 12.3 percent of
the global burden of disease.
Actually when I think of mentally ill patients, the first
impression that jumps into my mind is stigma, and that this
stigma is not only to the patient, but to his/her whole
family. Mental ill patients are usually hidden from others
and deprived of nearly all their rights.
Some NGOs adopted the concept to help those patients, but
do you think their help is enough?
Can we count only on the NGOs to act against stigmatization
of the mental ill patients, and the people has nothing to
do with it?
It's all about changing cultures and traditions, people
should reconsider their way of dealing with mental ill
patients and ask themselves directly if they treat these
patients in an offensive way or not.
But even if some people can really change their tradition,
can they accept mental ill patients to join the main stream
of the society as normal citizens and moreover to give them
the chance to prove that they have something to add?

Nice topic! 👏

We can make a start by not labelling people with mental health problems/issues as being "mental" or "mentally ill" Delabelling will hopefully help to lessen the stigma.

Yes, people with mental health issues still have the same potential to contribute to a community and have the same rights as any other citizen.

Mental health issues can occur to anyone at any time and witht he ever increasing amount of people in the developed world suffering mental debilitaion through Alzheimers disease, you can witness a perfectly competent and intelligent person change and regress back to being a baby.......very hard on carers to whom every support should be given.

Mental health should matter to us all, and we should be open and forthcoming in trying to understand rather than stigmatise or shy away, as if it doesnt concern us

At the end of the day people, mental health issues or not, still have the capacity to love and live life, so they should have that chance.

😡 M 😡

Originally posted by: Madmadgirl

Nice topic! 👏

We can make a start by not labelling people with mental health problems/issues as being "mental" or "mentally ill" Delabelling will hopefully help to lessen the stigma.
😡 M 😡

Not pretty sure of that... Technically ppl with mental health problems ARE mentally ill (quite literally).. They are termed correctly ..However the image of mentally ill has been formed at dangerous n incapable of Love  , no matter what the illness is... even something as common as depression

Ppl shud be made aware of the fact that a huge part of the world goes through it at least once in their life... And IMO stress shud be laid on mental well being just like physical well being

Originally posted by: Ritika2025

Not pretty sure of that... Technically ppl with mental health problems ARE mentally ill (quite literally)..

"Quite literally" - compared to what exactly? Serial killers who may often lead a double life are often classed as mentally ill or psychotic. Would you class that mentally ill as someone with autism or learning difficluties? I hope not!

 They are termed correctly

I beg to differ on that one.

.However the image of mentally ill has been formed at dangerous n incapable of Love  , no matter what the illness is... even something as common as depression
I think I get your drift and what you are hinting at is the common misconception people have
Ppl shud be made aware of the fact that a huge part of the world goes through it at least once in their life... And IMO stress shud be laid on mental well being just like physical well being

Again not quite sure what youre saying but if what youre saying is most people are dpressed at some point in their life - you need to understand the difference between clinical depression and feeling low. At which point would you consider a person to be mentally ill?

Stress is not mental illness. We actually need a health level of stress to survive - the problems occur when the balance is not maintained and we are no longer able to cope.

Originally posted by: * A P P L E *

But even if some people can really change their tradition,
can they accept mental ill patients to join the main stream
of the society as normal citizens and moreover to give them
the chance to prove that they have something to add?

I think it's a bit contradictory to ask mentally ill patients to be accepted as normal citizen. Do you consider a person who is carrying some disease as healthy?? No, he is ill, whether temporary or permanent. Whether we like it or not mentally ill patients are not normal, that's the truth and let's just accept it, and expecting others to accept them as normal is expecting too much IMO.

And if you want to insist that they're normal, then why do we have special schools and such things for them?? Let them study in a normal school like any other children and once they flunk twice in a row we can also throw them out like any other normal child.

Originally posted by: Madmadgirl

Also Treating them exaclty as normal beings is not always possible..
As a matter of fact , they usually require more care than the normal people..
Infact, they do require special treatments to help recover..

Bt they shud not be deprived of their rights as a human. And Mentally ill shud not be looked down upon.. Like Physical illness, most of mental problems can be treated as well

Edited by Ritika2025 - 16 years ago

Thanks for the clarification 😊

Whatever our outlooks - the great thing is mental health issues are being discussed....that's good in itsself! 👏

With reagrds to a previous post by Souro

" And if you want to insist that they're normal, then why do we have special schools and such things for them?? Let them study in a normal school like any other children and once they flunk twice in a row we can also throw them out like any other normal child."

in the UK we have a principle of inclusion when it comes to integrating children with special needs into a mainstream class. There are pros and cons to inclusion but at least we have a mechanism which allows a child to learn from a modified curriculum which is delivered to them, their progress monitored and if they benefit fine and if they dont and all strategies have been tried, special school will then be a real consideration.

In the UK at least we have a principle of "every child matters" and that they should be given a chance just like any other "able" child and where such inclusion happens the able children growing up alongside disabled children will hopefully not see them as "mental" or "handicapped" or any of the other labels that are often used to describe them.

😡 M 😡

Originally posted by: souro

I think it's a bit contradictory to ask mentally ill patients to be accepted as normal citizen. Do you consider a person who is carrying some disease as healthy?? No, he is ill, whether temporary or permanent. Whether we like it or not mentally ill patients are not normal, that's the truth and let's just accept it, and expecting others to accept them as normal is expecting too much IMO.

And if you want to insist that they're normal, then why do we have special schools and such things for them?? Let them study in a normal school like any other children and once they flunk twice in a row we can also throw them out like any other normal child.

Well Said!!

IMO - I don't say have a total neglect or see them with a totally different eye... there are reasons for it. Taarey Zammen par touch that aspect too... also if due to mental condition if kids are harmfull to other kids then definately some preventive actions has to be taken.

[QUOTE}

I think it's a bit contradictory to ask mentally ill patients to be accepted as normal citizen. Do you consider a person who is carrying some disease as healthy?? No, he is ill, whether temporary or permanent. Whether we like it or not mentally ill patients are not normal, that's the truth and let's just accept it, and expecting others to accept them as normal is expecting too much IMO.

And if you want to insist that they're normal, then why do we have special schools and such things for them?? Let them study in a normal school like any other children and once they flunk twice in a row we can also throw them out like any other normal child.

[QUOTE]

Well Said!!

IMO - I don't say have a total neglect or see them with a totally different eye... there are reasons for it.

Reasons for what???😕 Do you mean the mental illness??  I'm a little confused ...of course there are reasons...but they could be due to circumstances/stress in life or having been born that way

Taarey Zammen par touch that aspect too... also if due to mental condition if kids are harmfull to other kids then definately some preventive actions has to be taken.

I think that's called stating the obvious!😆 Incidentally there are plenty of "normal" kids that can be harmful to other kids, and preventative action would be taken there too!!

Havent seen theis "Taarey zameen pe" so cant comment - but what was so groundbreaking aboit this film - can anyone enlighten me?? Thanks!

😡M😡

Edited by Madmadgirl - 16 years ago

Not strictly about mental illness but about disability in general. Again, posted really to keep the debate alive and to show positive efforts being made to highlight disabilty awareness...


Indian launches site for disabled
By Tinku Ray
BBC News, Delhi



The Indian government has launched its first interactive web portal for people with disabilities.
The site, whose name, Punarbhava, means to reinvent oneself, offers information for people with disabilities and for those who work with them.

The government hopes to use the site to collect information about disabled people and their difficulties.

India officially has 21 million disabled people but non-government agencies say the figure is much higher.

The agencies estimate up to 60 million Indians can be classed as disabled if milder forms of impairment are taken into account.

'More needed'

The Punarbhava site includes a link to a disability register, an online chatroom, a blog, a discussion forum and an online "court" where redress can be sought for grievances.

According to Dr AK Sinha of the Rehabilitation Council of India, the government organisation jointly running the website, the site will "consolidate and disseminate all the information the government has on people with disabilities".

"And people looking for assistive devices - for example someone who has a hearing impairment wants to know when someone is knocking on his door while he sleeps - can find out where to buy such an instrument from the site," Dr Sinha says.

Javed Abidi, of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, said the website was "a step in the right direction" but more needed to be done.

"All websites in India should be user friendly for people with disabilities," says Mr Abidi.

Legal protection

Dr AK Sinha said the new web portal would solve some of the problems.

He said the government was making an effort to reach out to as many disabled people as possible.

"We know that the number of disabled people with access to the internet is small, but it's growing in leaps and bounds everyday."

"The government is in the process of providing computers to the remotest areas. So the word will get out," he said.

The rights of the disabled are protected by the Persons with Disabilities Act that became law in 1996.

But very little has been done to provide basic facilities for the physically or mentally challenged.

India has very few wheelchair-friendly buildings and the visually impaired had no access to any government website until now.

A screen-reader software for the visually impaired was also released at the website's launch.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/72922 19.stm

Published: 2008/03/12 14:44:47 GMT

BBC MMVIII
😡 M 😡