Raja Muda: Stigma attached to mental illness must be dispelled

Star: IPOH: The stigma attached to mental illness must be dispelled so that patients will come forward to seek help, Raja Muda of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah said.
Describing the stigma as “an invisible barrier to positive mental health”, Raja Nazrin Shah said: “There is reluctance among those who require treatment to seek it for fear that they will be scorned and ostracised.”
For example, Tanjung Rambutan and Tampoi were well known mainly because of the presence of Hospital Bahagia and Hospital Permai, he said on Friiday when opening the Sixth Perak Mental Health Convention.
The two institutions were however often the butt of jokes and their inmates the victims of ridicule, he added.
He noted that insurance and health plans often discriminated between mental and physical illnesses and provided inadequate coverage for the former.
Even employers were less accommodating to people with a history of mental disorders as compared with those with physical disabilities.
In this respect, he said, the media had an important role to play in educating society on the true nature and devastating impact of mental illness, including options on treatment and rehabilitation.
Raja Nazrin Shah noted that despite the dramatic improvements in physical health in most countries, the mental component of health in many countries had not improved.