educating people

Regrettably, I think the window to a good dialogue about mental illness is closing rapidly in the wake of Robin Williams' death. It gave us a great starting point, but our culture's attention span is terribly short and once again public discussion has turned to other topics.

As someone who lives with a mental health diagnosis, I work at educating people about MI and try to show them that mentally ill folks are just like everyone else. We don't all live on the streets, walking around barefoot in 40-degree weather and yelling at the pay phone on the corner; however, those poor souls are no less deserving of dignity and respect. We are also not all potential mass murderers! In fact, people who live with one or more psychiatric illnesses are more likely to be the victims of violence than its perpetrators.

Mental health nurses are in an especially good position to speak out and educate the public about what MI is and what it isn't. This would help dispel some of the stigma attached to mental health issues. You could write articles for publication, volunteer with groups such as NAMI and DBSA, even do interviews with newspapers or TV news stations on the topic of mental illness. And on a smaller scale, you can also teach patients and families, as well as your own friends and family, that MI is a medical condition and NOT a character defect or a lifestyle choice.

Okay, climbing down off soapbox now. You've made a good start by posing a good solution to stigma. I hope others will weigh in here because I'm not a psych nurse, just a patient.