There is nothing like shared agony to bring people together. Be it a nation creaking under the weight of ever increasing social and financial strains, or the ability of a funeral audience to see clearly into their own future, pain allows people to share a common burden, and share the load. Soldiers who fight for their very lives in the most awful conditions forge relationships with their mates that last a lifetime. Support groups formed to assist individuals and families through disease and affliction find kindred souls to help them make sense of such very dark times. For as long as humanity has walked this earth, the misery created by adversity can rarely if ever be dealt with alone – the need to survive and recover strives to overcome adversity.
There are however, herds of elephants in the room, none more seemingly obvious than the scourge of mental illness and the profound effects it has on our society. While prejudice and ignorance has been routed from most dark corners in the past generation, the attitudes and resources fixed to make a difference are only now being slowly herded. An estimated 50 billion dollars in lost productivity, an epidemic in suicides and addiction, and a system that is unable to handle the fall out from years of neglect, are some of the indicators of just how pervasive the problem is. Children are medicated, adults are cracking under the ever-increasing stress, and society does….nothing.
A diabetic needs insulin. Most people would easily understand the clear medical solution, and few would deny them the treatment they need. Someone with a mental illness however, is still perceived as defective, dangerous, to be shunned. It makes us uncomfortable to be confronted by someone who could very well be us. It is much easier to simply turn away, either ignoring the obvious or putting the “blame” on the individual – lazy, crazy, wrong. Like all afflictions, not all are the same, either the severity or the prospects of recovery. Despite changes to the Mental Health Act, there remains a societal unwillingness to face the problem, while access to treatment, proper diagnosis and support all conspire to prevent changes that are so very necessary. Make no mistake, profound changes must be made for the sake of us all.
Step one –and the most important one, is to work very hard to change the negative attitudes that surround mental illness. Stop sugar coating our own sensibilities in order to make the reality go down easier. Realize that until the stigma and ignorance that exists is washed away, we will only allow this rot to continue to undermine the foundations of the house we all share. No matter what we do, mental illness will be with us – as it has been – forever. What we can do is make sure that those who are affected know that they are not alone.
