The Stigma of Mental Health

Today I had an interesting conversation with a student near a printing station. I was waiting for the printer to be fixed and me and this student began talking. He was speaking about a recent article in a Toronto newspaper about tenants and fraud. He had mentioned how the tenant had blamed the fraud on his mental illness, and how people in society will use mental illness as a scapegoat to get away with crimes, and how disheartening it is for those who have mental illnesses and are legitimate. This made me think about how the media portrays those who have mental illness. Often those who have mental illness are portrayed in the media as criminals "getting away" with crime, crazy people, scary, people who invoke fear, people who are not intelligent, people who are emotionless, people who will hurt you, and people you should not be around. This student I was speaking with told me about his friend who was a university graduate, a young bright man who has schizophrenia. At times he thinks he is an archangel or other thoughts. The student told me how disheartened he was with the social workers at the hospital. He told me of a situation where he told a social worker to convey a message to this young man who is his friend and the message was that his father had died. The social worker did not convey the message, and also did not tell this guy that he would not convey the message, later when called the social worker said it was not his place to convey such a message. This made me question the role of social workers, and ethnical dilemmas we will face within our careers. It also made me question the power we hold, and how we dictate the lives of others, and how through knowledge we have acquired we are able to oppress other human beings if we choose to do so, and even if we choose not to do so ethics, agency mandates, and guidelines may put us in a position of an oppressor. We usually think of ourselves as kind empathetic beings who can "help" people. But in many ways we are agents of oppression.