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EVEN TODAY, despite a growing public understanding of eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, seasonal affective disorder, anxiety and depression, some of us still squirm and hedge rather than talk bluntly about mental illness.
It shouldn’t be that way.
As the National Alliance on Mental Illness and other advocates suggest, silence tends to foster misunderstanding and, in some cases, outright discrimination. Fortunately, activists in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere recognize that people coping with these maladies deserve better.
The alliance’s Wilkes-Barre chapter is expected to spotlight issues related to mental illness at a candlelight vigil at 6 tonight at the Luzerne County Courthouse, North River Street, Wilkes-Barre. Notably, the chapter will bestow its Lester Varano Advocacy Award to attorneys Kim and Ruth Borland.
The husband-wife legal team is a terrific torchbearer for this cause. It represents advocacy groups such as Step By Step Inc. Beyond that, however, Kim Borland serves on the board of the Greenhouse Center in Wilkes-Barre, a psychiatric rehabilitation “clubhouse” that supplies participants with job training, life skills and a social outlet. Plus, the Borlands’ law firm hires Greenhouse participants to do administrative and clerical work.
“It’s a long way to go for the community (to escape the belief) that because someone has a diagnosis of a mental illness that they’re somehow not able to work in a certain field,” Kim Borland said. “It’s two steps forward, one step back all the time.”
Unfortunately, in the current climate, certain people coping with mental illnesses might be denied jobs, life opportunities or even a chance to get well. Others might be unwilling or embarrassed to reach out for help.
Society shares part of the blame. On one hand, too many movies and prime-time TV shows revolve around a stereotypical “crazed killer” character. The unfair implication is that violence and mental illness typically go hand in hand. On the flip side, too many people still tiptoe around the topic of depression, for instance, referring to family members who are “feeling down” or “really blue.”
Both these scenarios do a disservice to the mentally ill.
We need straightforward talk on how high-functioning folks who happen to have mental illnesses can be afforded more chances to contribute at work and in the community. Just as we need to discuss how to more humanely address the problem of those mentally ill people who, because of inadequate treatment, are imprisoned or homeless.
For the mentally ill, advancements rely on more honest dialogue.
Mental health
• Find out about free, confidential screenings to be conducted around the nation on Thursday and take an anonymous screening online by visiting this Web site: www.mentalhealthscreening.org.
• An online screening test also is available at this address: www.depression-screening.org.
• The Web site for the National Alliance on Mental Illness is accessible at www.nami.org.