Is it a Bark or a Bite??--Stigma

“Stigma!”" News and movie media are always portraying the violent side of mental illness.” ”Less than 5% commit a violent act!”

Personally don’t agree that the media is to blame. Now I’m about to piss off a very large community of people. I think the real reason these negative stigma won’t go away until some serious issues are addressed, in Canadian law, mental health acts, human rights and privacy laws. Only then can we begin to protect the mentally ill that have a potential to create harm to themselves and others. Which is less than 5%!

My child falls into that 5%, I speak from personal experience, when I answer this question. If my child was to suffer harm in anyway or cause harm in anyway, I would run to the media. The media is the only way to get heard. I have ranted about the changes that need to occur to protect lives, but does governments listen. NO! I think the most heartening for me is that the mental health community doesn’t listen either.

I can’t really blame them, fear of– the dark, lock you, crazy away days–, still haunt many. Is there a common ground we can all stand on?

Personally don’t want to lock people away, or force inhuman treatment on people. But I do believe that we are a beastly human race that allows people to suffer in their mental illness. They are so ill, that they refuse treatment, or even harder for a family member to get treatment for a loved one. Why? Because of red tap, bureaucratic policies, human right laws,privacy act and the mental health act, doesn’t adequately cover crisis areas. Most of the time the mental health act isn’t even used correctly, it needs to be rewritten. I have personally asked the BC government to do this? In a letter they told me, is the act is fine and at this point WON”T be rewritten.

So who is listening? A man who falls in this 5% stood up at a conference in Vancouver and beg a lawyer to listen to him. I will never forget this man’s statement, it cut me to the core of how we neglect this small percentage of people.

” Yes, Give me the right to govern my mental illness, but when I’m ill give me the Right to be Healthy and Live.”

The plain simple truth is if the laws worked, or if there were more preventative measures, families won’t have to suffer to loss of a loved one. Families wouldn’t have to watch a loved one, suffer under the torment of an unstable mind that causes tragedy. If it was NOT so hard to get help, or even a bed for the mentally ill, we could prevent so many deaths.It is truly unjust and inhuman treatment. We must address these issues if we want the negative stigma to go away. Deaths will keep happening until we do. The media doesn’t cause these deaths, but government policies do. So only we can change that.