Breaking the silence

by Sean Previl

Amy Gleeson has suffered from severe anxiety, panic disorder and depression for most of her life. She’s only 23 years old.

The University of Windsor student said the stigma around mental illnesshas been the most difficult part of living with her illness, aside from the symptoms themselves.

“My teachers would think I was just faking sick or it wasn’t real,” said Gleeson. “It’s not something a lot of people understand. There’s a lot of negative associations with mental illness. It’s not something people take seriously because they can’t  see or experience it themselves.”

With one in five Canadians likely to experience a mental health problem each year, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, various companies and organizations are running campaigns to raise awareness of mental disorders.

Bell Canada is one such company, having held its fourth annual Let’s Talk Day Jan. 28 giving people across Canada the chance to Tweet, text and call to raise money for mental health initiatives in the country.

Mental illness is often called the “silent disease,” according to professionals like Carol Mueller, executive director of Alive! Canada. Mueller said breaking that silence through campaigns like Let’s Talk is what needs to happen to help those who have kept quiet.

“We don’t see that someone has a diagnosis of depression,” said Mueller. “We can’t see a physical change in the person and unless that person feels comfortable saying to us, ‘here’s what I’m dealing with, here’s what I’m struggling with,’ we won’t know.”

It is the stigma of mental illness that caused Bell to take action with its campaign. On the Let’s Talk website, Bell states it wants to “open the national conversation about mental illness to fight the stigma and the dramatic impact of mental health issues across the country.” One of these impacts is an increased rate of suicide amongst those with mental disorders.

According to Statistics Canada’s 2013 health profile, Windsor has a high rate of deaths by suicide with 8.2 people per 100,000 committing suicide each year compared to the 7.7 per 100,000 suicide related deaths in all of Ontario.

Bell’s Let’s Talk Day helped raise approximately $5.4 million this year for mental health initiatives in Canada. While Bell’s campaign was successful, Gleeson said she thinks the best way to end the stigma is to educate people personally.

“If you overhear a conversation where someone is talking about mental illness and they’re like ‘oh they’re crazy or they’re so bipolar’ cause they’re in a bad mood, tell them mental illness is very serious and you shouldn’t trivialize it like that. Don’t be afraid to stand up and educate people,” said Gleeson.