Image: Aigarius Do you think the Sun newspaper might have been feeling a little jealous of the Daily Mail recently? After all, the Mail has been extensively written about in the other papers, debated on Question Time, slagged off by Alistair Campbell on Newsnight... It's unlikely that many people are now unaware of the Mail's decision to brand a dead ex-navy officer a Britain-hater with an "evil legacy" Meanwhile, what's the Sun getting? Yes, the No More Page 3 campaign rumbles on, but it's hardly filling the pages or getting the airtime any more. Perhaps that explains yesterday's front page.
The Sun decided to kick off the week that includes World Mental Health Day with an article that stigmatises and stereotypes people with mental health problems. Oh, and totally misrepresents the report the article is supposedly based on.
The Sun decided to kick off the week that includes World Mental Health Day with an article that stigmatises and stereotypes people with mental health problems. Oh, and totally misrepresents the report the article is supposedly based on.
The headline screams about "1,200 killed by mental patients". It's reminiscent of the Halloween outfits Asda and Tesco were selling until the huge amount of criticism both from mental health charities and on twitter got them to think again Both costumes – Asda's 'mental health patient' one and Tesco's 'psycho ward' offering - played on the idea that people with mental illnesses are dangerous and scary.
As Sue Baker from Mind told the BBC: "Some of the worst myths that fuel this stigma is the assumption that we're going to be dangerous, knife-wielding maniacs and that is simply not the case." She added: "The stigma can be life-limiting and life-threatening because people don't think they can talk to anybody and sadly for some people they take the option of not being with us any more."
As Sue Baker from Mind told the BBC: "Some of the worst myths that fuel this stigma is the assumption that we're going to be dangerous, knife-wielding maniacs and that is simply not the case." She added: "The stigma can be life-limiting and life-threatening because people don't think they can talk to anybody and sadly for some people they take the option of not being with us any more."
| So following the extensive press coverage of the furore over these outfits, you might think the Sun would check a little more carefully before repeating exactly those assumptions on its front page. Although you'd be wrong. | To pretend that 'mental illness' is an umbrella term, and that falling under it negates everything else about you is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst |
The article is riddled with inaccuracies. This piece on Buzzfeed does a good job of pulling them apart, including pointing out that almost half of those who committed the murders that make up The Sun's 1,200 figure were not mental patients: "their illness cannot be shown to have caused the homicide, and for most of that group, the mental health system could have done nothing to prevent the death. And even those that were classed as 'patients' were not necessarily 'high-risk' patients, as The Sun claimed - just anybody who had contact with the mental health system in the previous year. According to Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of the mental health charity Mind, that's a figure of around 1.2million people."
The Buzzfeed article also quotes one of the original paper's authors, who says that the figures have been misquoted. On the same day that the Sun led with their interpretation of this report, another one was published jointly by Mind and Victim Support. Titled 'At risk, yet dismissed' its findings show that people with mental illness are: 3 times more likely to be a victim of crime than the general population, 5 times more likely to be a victim of assault for men, and rises to 10 times more likely if you're a woman more likely to be a repeat victim of crime far less likely to be satisfied with the service they receive from the criminal justice system.
To say that this goes against the grain of the Sun's piece is a slight understatement. But it's a point that needs repeating: the vast majority of people with mental health problems are unlikely to commit crime, and unlikely to attack someone.
Mental illness affects I in 4 people in the UK over their lifetime. That covers a huge range of problems from OCD, anorexia and anxiety to diagnoses such as BPD and schizophrenia. Two people with the same diagnosis may not display the same symptoms or respond in the same way to treatment. To pretend that 'mental illness' is an umbrella term, and that falling under it negates everything else about you is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst. Imagine you have a history of panic attacks, or a diagnosis of bipolar, how would this article make you feel? Safe?
Mental health problems can be difficult enough to recognise, disclose, talk about and treat without one of the country's best-selling newspapers making it sound as though you're a hair's breadth away from a killing spree.
Ignore the Sun – get involved with Mind's campaign to improve services for people with mental health problems who are the victims of crime.
Squeamish Louise
The Buzzfeed article also quotes one of the original paper's authors, who says that the figures have been misquoted. On the same day that the Sun led with their interpretation of this report, another one was published jointly by Mind and Victim Support. Titled 'At risk, yet dismissed' its findings show that people with mental illness are: 3 times more likely to be a victim of crime than the general population, 5 times more likely to be a victim of assault for men, and rises to 10 times more likely if you're a woman more likely to be a repeat victim of crime far less likely to be satisfied with the service they receive from the criminal justice system.
To say that this goes against the grain of the Sun's piece is a slight understatement. But it's a point that needs repeating: the vast majority of people with mental health problems are unlikely to commit crime, and unlikely to attack someone.
Mental illness affects I in 4 people in the UK over their lifetime. That covers a huge range of problems from OCD, anorexia and anxiety to diagnoses such as BPD and schizophrenia. Two people with the same diagnosis may not display the same symptoms or respond in the same way to treatment. To pretend that 'mental illness' is an umbrella term, and that falling under it negates everything else about you is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst. Imagine you have a history of panic attacks, or a diagnosis of bipolar, how would this article make you feel? Safe?
Mental health problems can be difficult enough to recognise, disclose, talk about and treat without one of the country's best-selling newspapers making it sound as though you're a hair's breadth away from a killing spree.
Ignore the Sun – get involved with Mind's campaign to improve services for people with mental health problems who are the victims of crime.
Squeamish Louise
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