Erasing the Stigma of Mental Illness in Canada
Knowledge Can Improve Employment Chances for Affected People
Aug 28, 2009
The Canadian Mental Health Association says that one in five Canadians will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in their lives. Further, approximately 30% of these people will seek help for it. In a recent article, Helen Henderson stated that people with mental health suffer more from the stigma of having a mental health problem than the symptoms themselves.
Stigma About Mental Illness is Still Strong
So far, attempts to educate the public about mental health issues have failed to decrease stigma to the point where people will seek help for their conditions without shame or implication. A recent study cited by Henderson cited that one in eight persons indicated they would not want to knowingly live next door to somebody with a mental health diagnosis.
Moreover, one in three persons of those surveyed did not believe that persons with mental illness had the same rights as others to a job. It should come as no surprise that advocates for those with mental health problems cite the unemployment rate for those diagnosed to be upwards of seventy to even ninety percent (see Out of the Shadows at Last, Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, May 2006).
Further, once in the workplace, workers with mental health problems continue to have a difficult time. The Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Mental Health states that over thirty five million workdays are lost due to mental health problems. Employers estimate that about eighty-two percent of short-term disability claims and seventy-two percent of long-term disability claims are for mental health issues. Although most employers believe less than 5% of their employees have mental health problems, the Canadian Public Health Agency cites at least 13% of the adult population suffers from at least mental health disorder.
Stigma Often Comes From the Media and Sensational Crime Reporting
Stigma continues to be the major barrier to reporting their condition, even to a mental health professional. The media images of rare but highly visible people like Vincent Li, who last year claimed to be "hearing voices" telling him to kill Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus traveling in Manitoba, or John W. Hinkley Jr. who believed that actress Jodie Foster was in love with him and asked him to kill then U. S. President Ronald Reagan, lead to a stereotypical belief that ties mental illness to violence. People who feel they might be starting to have signs of mental illness only become more reluctant to seek help, as many members of the public continue to believe these stereotypes.
As a result of mental health problems, many persons lose their confidence that an employer will hire and accommodate their needs. Employers are attempting to work on ways to retain and accommodate employees with mental health problems through a variety of methods, such as educating managers and supervisors about the needs of employees with mental health issues, offering flex-time, and better monitoring workload and managing critical and possibly tense situations and how they can impact staff. However, despite all of these measures, employers tend to be more familiar with dealing with disabilities of a visible and clear nature.
Education About Mental Health Issues Can Remedy Stigma
Understanding the facts about mental health disabilities would go a long way towards removing many of the barriers to hiring persons with mental health problems:
- People with mental health problems are no more likely to be violent than other people;
- Mental health problems have nothing to do with intelligence. Persons with mental health issues have the same range of intellectual abilities as those without mental health problems.
- People with mental health problems have the same skill range as those of others with the same level of education and work experience;
- Accommodations for persons with mental health usually come at little or no cost to employers; and
- In a study by the Canadian Mental Health Association, it was shown that employees with mental health problems tend to be more loyal, have an attendance rate comparable to other employees without mental health problems, and their performance level is at about the same or above those of other employees.
With skill shortages in an increasing number of employment areas, employers would be remiss to not consider qualified candidates recovering from mental health problems.
Resources:
Link: Out of the Shadows at Last, Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology,
May 2006 (download file)
Link: Mental Health Commission of Canada (set up as a result of the above Senate report)
