Stigma with Mental health Disorders

By Quratulain Zehra Syedain, MD (Internist, New York)

Like body, mind can also be afflicted with illness and impairment. Brain is the  most vital  and complex organ of the body and can get diseased like any other organ. While physical illnesses and  impairments drive sympathy, mental illnesses and impairments become a cause of being a laughing stock! "Cuckoo", "crazy" and "nuts" are some of the common terms used by lay persons and physicians alike. Conversation about psychiatric patients appears hilarious
and entertaining amongst even revered physicians. Worst- all sixteen different categories of psychiatric /mental health disorders are thrown in one basket and labeled as being "Psycho!"

Like impairment of vision, hearing, speech and use of limbs, a person can be born physical handicap or acquire such a condition later in life. Similarly a person can be born with Intellectual disability (the term is synonymous with and is now preferred over the older term Mental Retardation or Handicap) or develop it later due to illness or injury. Just as  physically handicapped children, termed "special children" are accommodated in training and education, children with mild (IQ between 50 and 55 to approximately 70) and moderate (IQ  between 35 and 40 to between 50 and 55 ) intellectual disabilities or mental retardation, if  provided with appropriate education, vocational  training, physical and occupational therapy can be utilized  positively in society, instead of being left on streets neglected and abused.  Besides, if diagnosed early in childhood with treatable conditions, the extent of potential disability can be minimized.

Other than being a mental handicap, there are variety of mental disorders like psychotic, mood, behavioral and personality disorders due to unknown and known causes like chemical imbalance in brain, environment, upbringing, exposure to abuse and trauma and intake of alcohol by parents during pregnancy. Since brain is such a complex organ, management of mental disorders is also not simple. Just like chronic medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, arthritis, acidity in stomach and blockage in arteries of heart to name a few, have no cure but can be well controlled with life style modification and medications, mental disorders too can be managed with medication and psychotherapy so that these patients do not pose danger to themselves and others and can contribute positively to society, instead of being abandoned on streets as lunatics/mad/crazy..

Ironically since mental disorders are considered a taboo and are stigmatized by society, no one likes to recognize their existence in themselves or in their near and dear ones. Hence visiting Psychiatrists/ Mental health providers is avoided. Ironically, even the Psychiatric hospitals are a  source of fun and often referred as "pagal khana"( "house of mad" in Urdu).

In short, mental illnesses and impairments like physical illnesses and impairments are no cause of stigmatization and should be dealt in similar manners.

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