There are times when I think Mental Health is moving forward, that the walls of stigma are breaking down, that people are more open and then I see. read, or hear something that makes me think, “Yeah, maybe, but the sun is not yet shining as brightly as we think.”
Case in point. I recently read an article by a gentleman in Australia. The bi-line read that he ‘is one of Australia’s best-known people-management thinkers.’ In this one particular article it identified that some people who claim to have a mental illness are nothing more than malingerers or fakers and that all you need to ferret out who falls in this category is issue a warning letter or a similar action and things will change ‘until the next time they get away with it’. I am simplifying here but that was the message. The assault on this article was fast and swift by those who have lived experience, those who work in the field, or those who are a friend or family member. The article in itself showed great insensitivity towards those may be dealing with a legitimate mental illness. His apology later posted at the top of the article was short and to the point…
“Since publishing this article, an enormous amount of feedback on social media has made me realise it was poorly written and insensitive. This has been unfair on those with a mental illness and their loved ones. This was never my intention. My intention was to achieve the opposite. At this I clearly failed. I’m genuinely sorry.”
Having checked out other articles that this person has written, I am sure that he truly never did mean harm, but the reality is he may have caused harm through his lack of thinking and his lack of understanding the challenges that exist for people dealing with mental illnesses, and of the stigma that is often connected with having a mental illness. This type of article can be enough for someone to think “There’s no point saying anything, they will just think I am faking it to get time off or trying to get out of work.” And the end result is another employee suffering in silence, afraid to let their employer know that they need help. The apology was appreciated and was sincere, but even then, being at the top of the page, it was easy to miss if you went to the main article.