prejudice against mental health issues

I work in mental health (and have experienced problems myself) and recently one of our ex clients passed away. He was only young (mid 30s) and he was lovely. He lived with a horrible illness and was so brave in the way he managed it. He genuinely inspired others. He not only completed years of study, he had his own business providing a service to others. The results of the inquest have now been published and what does the local paper do???? Writes this horrendous article where he's referred to as "Schizophrenic". His name and age appear later in the article. I know I'm preaching to the converted but it really pisses me off that this happens time and time again. They also wrote a whole load of sensationalist nonsense about his lifestyle making him sound awful Happy Thankfully my managers written a brilliant and scathing letter to the paper re this but nevertheless the articles out there for all to read and judge and think the worst!!

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21 replies since 7th May 2009 • Last reply 7th May 2009

I agree Kitkat...the reference made in that article was wrong...and I believe people need to choose their words carefully, espeically if they are writting in the public eye.

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That is awful, are they at least going to print a retraction or apology to "anybody they may have offended"? If not I would talk to people you know and have more people write in letters to complain. I'd be willing to write one too if they have a website that I can read the article on. I may not have known the man personally, but I hate it when people with mental health issues aren't treated with the respect they deserve.

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oh gosh, that is aweful.

here two people with metal health problems were arrested on ground that they were publicy drunk, but they wern't. They had epilepsy and the other one was metaly delayed

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Eurgh I hate when people pick on disabilities. In media we had to look at this old newspaper and they had an article about Abu Hamza where they talked more about the fact that he was missing a hand than what he'd actually done. People are so pathetic when it comes to anything even slightly out of the ordinary.

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I reread the article today and its really sloppily written and researched. They've got a psychiatrist muddled up with a psychologist and said that a particular drug was for anxiety when its an antipsychotic. Fair enough antipsychotic drugs can be used for anxiety in low doses but aghhhh.... My main concern is for the people out there who read these kind of articles and don't question things. Not that long ago I was watching the lunchtime news on ITV (terrestrial channel in UK) and they said they said that Schizophrenia was a Personality Disorder. They're two v different problems. Sometimes people have both but they're not the same :/

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I reread the article today and its really sloppily written and researched. They've got a psychiatrist muddled up with a psychologist and said that a particular drug was for anxiety when its an antipsychotic. Fair enough antipsychotic drugs can be used for anxiety in low doses but aghhhh.... My main concern is for the people out there who read these kind of articles and don't question things. Not that long ago I was watching the lunchtime news on ITV (terrestrial channel in UK) and they said they said that Schizophrenia was a Personality Disorder. They're two v different problems. Sometimes people have both but they're not the same :/

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Schizophrenia is close to a personality disorder...I believe it falls on the same section of the DSM IV...soo...yeah....but I understand what you mean Kitkat.

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It is disgusting that the papers are allowed to release sensitive, private information and worse still that they are allowed to lie. There is a difference between opinions and lies. Urgh that's really annoyed me. I can't believe there is still this sort of attitude to it. I was in a supermarket and this man nearly fell over and was mumbling to himself etc and the girl on the till said 'ooh stupid drunk' and I thought it was disguting to think that but even more so to say it infront of customers and in ear shot of the man, you can't just assume these things. I hate anything like this because I hate other people being misunderstood through complete ignorance and I hate being misunderstood myself.

ITV is a poor news channel anyway, I tend to watch the BBC but ITV in the day and both put a different spin on the stories and give different statistics but ITV seems more right wing about it, I don't know how else to explain other than say right wing.

I work with dogs and recently a man was 'attacked' by a pair of fighting german shepherds. Now obviously the poor bloke died but he fell and banged his head, he was trying to help but he got in between two adult dogs of a large breed that were fighting, the news described him as a 'victim' as if he was randomly attacked, it seems that they didn't get a professional to explain. The story hasn't gone very far but I do worry what people will think of German Shepherds now.

The amount of ignorance in the general public is awful, but it seems that its made worse by papers. And I have to admit sometimes I believe what I read Happy


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yes, I hate it when the media release personal informations, who says they or the world is privy to that information.

and about the dogs, people are always scared of large breeds, germans shepards are the best, loyal dogs ever. they were probly playing or if they were fighteing, who would you get inbetween them.

I had a friend who was attacked by 10 dashounds...she is scared of them now, because they knocked her over.

and when we watch the news or read the paper, we believe. its the media, and we trust them not to spin it their way but to show the facts. but sometimes, or most. they don't

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I hate people blaming animals for stuff. Just because we've managed to surpress almost every instinct in our body that connects us to them doesn't mean that they can hold back when you provoke them. It was like not that long ago, when that baby got killed by a dog - they left the baby alone in a room with a dog, in an easily accessible place. What do you think is going to happen!

I take everything I see/read in the news with a pinch of salt, especially since I started doing media. It's just made it so obvious how much lying and manipulation is going on. So now I check things up a few times over different sources, and completely stay away from The Sun and The Daily Mail.

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I always read the bbc, because cnn always turn their stories to the american perspective

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Hearing about people saying that schizophrenia is a personality disorder is annoying... There are schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders, but they are not the same as schizophrenia. The symptoms are different, and not as severe with the personality disorders. In my psychology class somebody thought that dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder) was the same as schizophrenia. But again, they are very different. Schizophrenics - contrary to popular belief - do not have more than one "person" in their heads. They have auditory hallucinations, usually of voices. Anyway, I'm done ranting. :/

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My manager got a response from the paper concerned and basically they seemed to be saying that all they'd said was what the coroner said. I think thats such a cop out. Even if that was the case, they had a duty, as does the media in general, to print the facts and print them in a responsible way not feed the stereotyped image that all people with Schizophrenia are 3 headed, axe weilding maniacs that you should be scared off. In actual fact they are generally sensitive, vulnerable, very unlucky and need peoples support and understanding and to be judged as individuals not labels. Rant over.

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thats right rainbow...but people always have their misconceptions

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