How to combat stigma over mental health

As a person committed to the cause of mental health awareness and support, I often talk and write about how damaging the impact of stigma and isolation can be for those at the receiving end of it. Which brings me to the question of whether the 'perpetrators' can really be faulted?

An incident which took place many months ago when I was at a satellite suburb of Mumbai, brings home the subject of this article. As I parked the car and stepped out of it, a friend from college days greeted me warmly. I shook his hands saying, "How are you doing Stephen?"

Stephen smiled widely and said that life had seen a huge turnaround. "I have retired now because I no longer need the money. My brother who is an entrepreneur abroad sends me so much money that I don't know what to do with it! He has founded the business there in my name. We have some land here and shortly we shall begin work on a bungalow scheme of 24 units, including those for our family."

Continuing in a conspiratorial  tone, he said, "Do you know the Church has honoured me. They have discovered that I am the son of God. Although I get a lot of respect from Rome, I am told that my life is now under threat. That is why I don't disclose this to anybody."

Exchanging goodbyes, I politely excused myself and walked on to my cousin's house. When I narrated Stephen's story to her, we both had a hearty laugh. She warned me to steer clear of him and that even she had been told similar tall stories by him. She said that people in the town talked about him having lost his mind.

When we were done with making fun of him, I suddenly sobered up. "You know what? Your own brother was in the same mess about a decade ago. I was blabbering about things which make even me laugh today. I wonder how I could have laughed at him."

My cousin found it difficult to believe that I had derailed to such an extent.

This incident made me introspect. Stephen's symptoms screamed manic phase of Bipolar Disorder which is marked my euphoria and grandiose thinking, a sort of uncoupling from reality.  If I, who had walked over hot coals to be able to walk on cool green grass again, could be so insensitive to this man's suffering, how could I expect the world to be any different towards the mentally ill? Shouldn't it have been obvious that Stephen could hardly be blamed for his behaviour? He was very sick and urgently in need of treatment.

So, why do we respond with such insensitivity? Anyone who does not fit in with our preconceived notions about 'normalcy' is a soft target. Habits die hard. Not many years ago, people with physical deformities were often made fun of in Hindi cinema. So if you stammered or were very short or were obese, you could easily provide comic fodder in Bollywood. Things are only marginally better now.

Why blame movies? Don't they reflect society? From the perspective of those at the wrong side of stigma, one way to get rid of it is to be assertive. It is, therefore, so important for us to share our stories, to give a face to suffering, so that people might begin to understand that we are after all human, just different from their definitions of 'normal' humans.

Let's Walk Together for this cause.

(While the incident narrated above is a true, the name of the person involved has been changed to protect his privacy.)

Vijay Nallawala