Discrimination against people with mental health problems is rife and extends into the health professions, a survey published by the Mental Health Foundation reports this week.
About 70% of the 556 respondents reported discrimination in response to their own mental distress or that of a friend or relative. It was not just family and friends who were unsympathetic and showed lack of understanding about mental illness but also GPs and other health service staff, the survey says.
The survey, published on 25 April to mark Mental Health Action Week, found that 44% of respondents felt discriminated against by GPs. The most common form of discrimination reported was that physical illness was not taken seriously or was attributed to mental distress or psychosomatic sources. One person reported when talking about a relative: “[the GP] misdiagnosed lung andliver cancer as confusion and schizophrenia.”
This is a serious problem, the Mental Health Foundation said, because it has implications for receiving appropriate health care.
Respondents reported that GPs told them everything from “snap out of it” to “I can only help you if you're suicidal.” They also accused GPs of not always believing that they were suffering mental distress and of an overreliance on drugs for treatment.
Nevertheless, most people (84%) said that they could still sometimes tell their GP of their mental distress, possibly reflecting the fact that family doctors are the first port of call for psychological support.
Nurses—both in hospital and in the community—psychiatrists, consultants, accident and emergency staff, and social workers were also specifically reported as being discriminatory towards mentally ill people. Nearly a third of respondents indicated that they had experienced discrimination from health professionals other than GPs.
The survey found widespread discrimination by family and friends as well as in the workplace and when seeking to gain employment.
Among the foundation's recommendations are ongoing training for GPs and other health staff to develop their understanding of mental health problems, as well as education targeted at schoolchildren, the general public, and the media.
Pull Yourself Together is available from the Mental Health Foundation (tel 020 7535 7441), price £10.