What I HAVE noticed is a moderate amount of actual stigmatisation and prejudice towards the mentally ill, especially concerning public figures, eg. actors or politicians. I'm refusing to use the term "celebrity" any more in the hope that its use will decrease- one can only try!
My personal encounter with prejudice against the mentally ill took the form of a Twitter "conversation" with broadcaster & popular comedian and Gruen Transfer host Wil Anderson [Twitter @Wil_Anderson]. I've known him through media for many years, although I've been no particular fan or knocker- he has seemed a pleasant and positive guy. My opinion was shattered when I saw him post a very negative comment about Matthew Newton (the guy I previously wrote about in my post "...").
Here are some images of the Tweets in question:
_________________________________
Short-lived campaigns are not enough
Norman Sartorius
Nature 468, 163–165 (11 November 2010) doi:10.1038/468163a
Published online 10 November 2010
The stigma of mental illness will be reduced only if region-specific awareness initiatives become a permanent
fixture of health and social services, argues Norman Sartorius
_________________________________________
"
Anderson is well known as host of popular Australian panel
show The Gruen Transfer and prior to that The Glass House, both on ABC. His
radio and television career has made Anderson a highly recognised comedian in
Australia, but he is foremost a standup comedy performer
Anderson aroused controversy over some jokes he made about
the late father of Australian Idol finalist Shannon Noll at the 2006 Melbourne
International Comedy Festival.[1]
From 2001 to 2004 he was best known as one half of Triple
J's breakfast radio team, co-presenting with Adam Spencer on the show which
aired nationally across Australia.
^ Speaker Profile of Wil Anderson at The Celebrity Speakers
Bureau
Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness
By Otto F. Wahl was worried when reprinting
for 2nd edition that lots might have written etc but not.
David Granirer is a counsellor, stand-up comic, the author
of The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst can lead to Happiness and Success,
and the founder of Stand Up For Mental Health.[1] David lives with his wife and
two kids in Vancouver, BC.
^ video: David Granirer's Take on Stigma at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=_TUCjBWV7IA^ http://www.standupformentalhealth.com
http://www.standupformentalhealth.com/documents/Cracking-Up-Mental-Illness-and-Stand-Up-Comedy-A-Social-Representations-Approach-to-Anti-Stigma-Resistance.pdf
on May 17, 2010
^ David Granirer Mental Health ConsultinChallenging the Stigma of Mental Illness
Challenging the Stigma of Mental Illness, Patrick Corrigan, David Roe and Hector Tsang,Chichester, Wiley, 2011, pp. 224, ISBN 978–0–470–68360–6 (hb), £60.00
Understanding and challenging stigma are pressing issues for people with mental health difficulties and for those involved in service provision or mental health promotion. It is currently the focus of national alliances and campaigns such as ‘Time to Change’ in England, ‘See Me’ in Scotland', ‘See Change’ in Ireland and ‘Opening Minds’ in Canada. While there may be a broad consensus that the impact of social stigma may be seriously damaging to people's self-esteem and impair their chances of recovery, there is still a relatively weak evidence base as to what may be effective in tackling stigma (Yanos et al., 2008;Tew et al., 2011).
In Challenging the Stigma of Mental Illness, Patrick Corrigan and colleagues seek to provide a practically focused text that is grounded in the experience and narratives of …
