Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 417

The 2012 report from Time to Change  shows that attitudes in this country to mental illness are gradually changing. A survey of over 1700 people also showed that the greater change was among women rather than men. Furthermore it seemed that tolerance came with increased age. This article and research all available in Bulletin 417

Double boost to fight stigma

The long running campaign that aims to stamp out the stigma attached to mental illness, Time to Change, has received a £20 million injection. The Department of Health has pledged £16 million and Comic Relief has also donated £4 million. The care services minister made the announcement on Monday 10th October, World Mental Health Day.

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New campaign to combat stigma

Time to Change is launching a new campaign to tackle the stigma surrounding mental illness. The campaign "It's time to talk, it's time to change" comes in the wake of the results of an online survey which revealed the reluctance of people who had had mental health problems to discuss this openly.

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Does it cut both ways?

The government has announced its plans to boost the profile of mental health services to an equal footing with physical conditions. £400 million is to be injected with particular focus on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). It is hoped that as well as reducing stigma, 1.2 million people will recover earlier than previously. However charities such as Young Minds have warned that the spending cuts elswhere, such as Sure Start centres, will undermine the strategy.

Read the Department of Health document
Read the charities reply

Nicknames may hurt me, not sticks & stones

A YoungMinds survey studying the classroom experiences of 2629 young people between the ages of 9 and 25 has reported the distress caused to mentally ill pupils by verbal abuse. The report also stated that witnesses to the abuse were often distressed by this behaviour. The stigma involved made it very difficult for mentally ill children to report feeling unwell compared with children who were feeling physically unwell. The charity has called for intensified health promotion to reduce the stigma involved.

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The Stigma Lingers on

A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry journal maintains that despite decades of strategies aimed at reducing the stigma attached to various mental illnesses, success has been minimal. The opinions of a sample of the American public were gathered and compared with opinions from ten years ago.

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Read the original abstract

Dementia and stigma

A government survey has highlighted the stigma related to dementia. One in three people omitted to feeling uneasy in the company of a person suffering with dementia. To counteract this a new campaign has been launched involving people with dementia. The aim is to educate people as to how they can relate to and help dementia sufferers.

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Mental health employment stigma

Fears of unreliabilty would influence four out of ten people not to employ a person with a history of mental illness, according to a survey carried out by St Patrick's University Hospital in Ireland. This level of stigma contributes to mentally ill persons not accessing the help they need

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Suffering in silence

A survey conducted at St Patrick's University Hospital in Ireland has concluded that 1 out of 10 people who have a mental illness do so in silence for up to a year before they ask for help. Feelings of shame and fear of the stigma attached to mental illnesses meant that sufferers would not even discuss their problems with their closest friends.

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Stigma, Discrimination and Holidays

A new survey from the Time to Change campaign has found that most British citizens would either cancel or change their holiday plans rather than share the trip with a friend who has a mental illness. Such is the stigma still associated with mental health problems, people would rather go away with a friend who had a criminal record.

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