Reflections on our Irrational Attitudes Towards Mental Illness
We live in a society that treats mental and physical health as two completely different constructs. Much of this schism in our conception of mental health goes back to the Enlightenment, when society began to turn from a more holistic view of the world, to a more rational view. Rene Descartes’ groundbreaking proposition: “Cogito Ergo Sum” or “I think, therefore I am” ushered in this new era of rationality, which privileged logical, coherent thought over the superstitions and irrational beliefs that had prevailed through the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, the development of this new worldview, ended up marginalizing individuals who could not conform to this new model of the “rational” person. Irrationality and illogical thought, behaviors, and beliefs were seen as being dangerous and many thousands of people with mental illness and other cognitive disabilities were institutionalized and locked away from society, where they could not do harm to others or themselves. At least that was the assumption…
The philosophy and assumptions that the Founding Fathers used to draft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were all rooted in this rational worldview. Some of the first buildings in the colonial United States were insane asylums and institutions where the irrational members of society could be locked up and isolated. For hundreds of years, families and communities locked up individuals with mental illness instead of seeking understanding or treatment. It wasn’t until the early 1970’s, with the deinstitutionalization movement and the development of community mental health programs, that society began to acknowledge the rights and personhood of people with mental illness. Unfortunately, as funding for these community based programs has waned we have seen another shift towards the institutionalization of people with mental illness in our prisons.
According to some estimates, up to 70% of the incarcerated population in the United States has some sort of mental health condition. Many are locked away today under the false assumption that incarceration will protect them from themselves, and that society is safer by keeping people with mental illness locked up. Of course, this pattern feeds into societal perceptions that people with mental illness are more prone to commit crimes, and contributes to the fear and distrust that keeps people with mental illness on the margins of society.
Many people are fine with disclosing that they have physical illnesses, but would never consider sharing mental health issues. Consider how you would respond if an employee came in for their first day on the job and divulged that he/she was struggling with headaches from seasonal allergies. Now consider how you would respond if that same employee came in and divulged that he/she was struggling with schizophrenia? What about addiction, depression, or anxiety? How you respond to these questions can reveal a lot about our personal and societal attitudes towards mental health, and recognizing and acknowledging the problem is the first step in taking action to address it.
Mental health may be the last great frontier of civil rights policy. There continues to be significant amounts of fear and discrimination across society regarding individuals with mental illness. Individuals with mental illness struggle to secure housing, employment, healthcare, and even education because of faulty preconceived notions about mental illness. These preconceived notions arise from a general lack of education and have our inability to have an open, honest dialogue about mental health and mental illness. We have to start talking about mental health and address the attitudes that continue to exclude and stigmatize. The dream of a more inclusive and supportive world for people with mental illness will continue to elude us until we are comfortable acknowledging that mental illness is something that will impact everyone at some point in their life and is a natural part of being human.