Uticopa Blog

As with all health issues, it is only by actually listening to sufferers about their particular problems that specific issues and needs can be met.  If you have a mental health condition, we would like to hear from you.

It may be you desperately need more attention, someone to talk to, or simply someone to listen.  You may say that even the knowledge that there are other people in the same situation would help you to confront your illness.  Alternatively, it might be something else entirely.  We would like to know.

First, read the rest of this article, particularly the highlighted lines, then let us know what your real needs are by completing the Comments Box below.

As other former ‘no go' illnesses like cancer are beginning to get more attention in the media and by legislation, it is hoped that mental health will follow in this same welcome direction. As such, Peers have called on the European Union (EU) to do more to help those suffering from mental health problems. The House of Lords' EU committee has published a report claiming that the EU has a role to play in ensuring that the one in four adults who suffer from mental health problems in Europe do not fall victim to social exclusion.
 
Society problems

The EU published a green paper in 2005 acknowledging that, with 58,000 Europeans committing suicide every year, more must be done to protect sufferers from falling out of society.

Clearly, mental health issues are becoming more important to policymakers, but a major stumbling block in policy debates has been the lack of reliable data about the rapidly changing health care system and how it affects those with mental health problems.

Has the health system changed for the better for those with mental health problems?

Insurance issues

Several studies are now underway to investigate insurance coverage and access to care for people with mental illness. In recent years, concerns about the adequacy of insurance benefits and quality of care for individuals with mental illness have led many to ask for equal coverage for both mental health and other medical conditions. It is hoped to stop the erosion of insurance coverage for mental health care at a time when scientific research is yielding significant advances in treating mental illness, and to make it easier for the country's mentally ill population to get help. However, it is suspected that these ideals are far from being met. Compared with the general population, it is believed that individuals with mental health problems experience a deterioration in their health insurance status, despite non-sufferers reporting improved benefits. The effect of deteriorating insurance coverage appears to be somewhat unique to mental health care.

What's your experience with insurance?

Work issues

This also has a knock-on effect regarding employment (see Figure 1). Basically, this means that if you lose employment as a result of your mental health symptoms, you often lose the private insurance that went with the job. A double-whammy!

Establishing a set of principles for the employment of those with mental health issues could be one way of improving the situation across Europe, the report recommends.  In Britain, workers with mental health problems could be protected by incorporating their rights into recently introduced discrimination legislation.

"People suffering from conditions as diverse as depression or anxiety right through to schizophrenia must be able to seek help without fear of discrimination or social stigma," Baroness Thomas of Walliswood commented.

"It is vital that in the UK mental health problems are recognised as coming within the scope of anti-discrimination legislation, so that people do not lose their jobs or become excluded from services when seeking help for their condition," she continued.

"This is crucial for preventing social exclusion."

Do you agree with this?  Do you have an employment story to tell about discrimination at work? Let us know how your situation could have been improved.

An analysis carried out in the U.S. showed that despite the economic vitality of the 1990s, the unemployment rate for the mentally ill population was three to five times higher than for the rest of the population (Sturm et al., 1999). Moreover, people at risk for mental health problems were significantly more likely than the remainder of the population to have left a job that provided insurance.

Was this your experience of employment?

The ‘mentally ill' are the most ignored and unlistened-to group in the world - they don't have a voice. Schizophrenia especially is the forgotten illness - the invisible illness.

What exactly can individual sufferers do?

Many who have done this report that responses ranged from irritation to outright hostility. Some say that the majority of responders who were non-sufferers were interested in open, honest and intelligent debate on these subjects plus all the angles to them.

However, if the people themselves suffering these conditions are generally reluctant to discus things in an open minded way, then what hope is there for the rest of society to do so? So many sufferers are met daily with stigma and discrimination. They say that people are rarely understanding and don't want to understand.

• Are you open and honest about your condition?
• What has been the reaction from others?
• Have you posted on mainstream forums about mental health issues?
• What was the response?
• What do you recommend should be done to raise awareness, remove the stigma attached to mental health issues and change public attitudes?

The author Douglas Adams said: "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."  Was he right?