Mental Health Isn’t Taken Seriously

People are badly misinformed about it

It really, really does. | Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash

I’ve been working on a longer form article about the anti-feminist backlash taking place on the American right-wing.

I’ve been doing a lot of digging into the discourse around the Lindsay Clancy trial because ho boy, are the comment sections revealing. Look forward to that essay a little later; I’m doing a lot of research for it and it isn’t going to be short.

But on top of how the right-wing is using this to push their anti-feminist narrative, what I’m seeing is a stunning lack of knowledge about mental health.

Now, bear in mind, this is a general lack of knowledge I’m talking about, not a debate about this case’s specifics. I’m not on the jury, and neither are you. We’re not lawyers here arguing one woman’s guilty.

I’m talking about the lack of understanding that’s on display.

People are making weird claims. First of all, that hormones have no impact on mental health and could not drive a woman to murder. Some people are claiming that Postpartum Depression is just ‘a case of the sads’ or that Postpartum Psychosis isn’t real.

People are claiming that if you’re in a psychotic episode, you still know right from wrong and what you do is a choice.

People are claiming that a person in a psychotic episode can’t appear normal at a glance. One man claimed that unless you’re not half undressed in the street screaming at a lamp post, you’re not mentally ill and you’re clearly faking it.

The claim that mental illness always looks exactly the same for everyone is wild, and obviously not true.

People are claiming that mental health issues have specific timelines that don’t vary, that mental illness isn’t a big deal, that people with a mental illness are ‘weak willed’ and lazy, or that it’s just an excuse.

It’s the same old stigma about disability and health that we see all the time.

There’s a tremendous amount of shame that gets lumped on people who have diagnosed mental illness. Everything from depression and anxiety and bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and psychosis.

I have experience with some of this myself. Either me, or people around me.

I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety. I’ve been crippled by it. I’ve been burnt out, I’ve had suicidal ideation when I was young. I’m here today, thank the gods, but others are not.

And it’s not because I’m ‘stronger’ than them, it’s because I got the help I needed and my situation improved. My cause happened to be something that could be mended by medication and therapy.

Turns out some physical, hormonal ailments can cause that. If you treat the underlying cause, it gets better. Who knew?

I’ve even struggled with disconnection from reality before. Did you know that insomnia and sleep deprivation can cause symptoms of psychosis? It’s not fun.

All of this to say, there’s a lot of misinformation being thrown around that displays how the general public really doesn’t know dick about mental health, and that education on the issue is sorely lacking.

We would be better served with more freely available information, greater public awareness, and more funding for mental health research. As it stands, there’s a massive disconnect between what is generally known and what is true.

People who struggle with their mental health are just that — people. People with an illness that requires help and treatment. It’s no more shameful than having cancer or diabetes.

There shouldn’t be stigma, there shouldn’t be shame, there shouldn’t be blame or disgust or propaganda. Being sick is not a moral judgement on anyone.

The real sickness is at the heart of a society that treats sick people like trash.

Solidarity wins.

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