This article, published on the website of Canterbury Christ Church University, has been written by Anne Cook and David Harper. It begins:
“It’s a sobering thought that, for many people who use mental health services, other people’s reactions cause more distress than their original problems. And attitudes may even be getting worse. A recent report from the Department of Health found that whereas in 1997, 92% of people questioned agreed that ‘we need to adopt a more tolerant attitude towards people with mental illness’, in 2011 only 86% thought that we need to be more tolerant. Worryingly, young people appeared to be the most prejudiced.
Relatively static attitudes to mental health stand in contrast to the changes there have been in attitudes about ethnicity and sexuality (we currently have a conservative Prime Minister advocating same-sex marriage). It’s even more surprising given the effort that has gone into anti-stigma campaigns. For example you may have seen the recent tube posters or TV ads from the government sponsored Time to Change campaign. So what’s the problem? Perhaps part of the answer is what campaign ads actually say. Or what they don’t …”
You can read more from here.
