MENTAL ILLNESS AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION
Over the centuries, mental illness has been judged not only from a position of ignorance, but from a constant fear stoked by a discourse running along channels other than those of reason and convention. Although the fascination generated by many perturbating objects has been reflected, in the case of mental illness, in the parallel sometimes drawn between madness and genius or between madness and creativity, it is unquestionable that until medical science saw progress being made with respect to psychology and psychiatry, the concept of mental illness, its related disorders and those who suffered from it, has almost always been a subject kept out of sight, condemned and even punished.
Today, while advances in clinical diagnosis, pharmacology and neuroscience join hands with breakthroughs in the fields of psychiatry and psychology, mental illness continues to represent the most neglected public health problem, when due to its treatment and the general effect it has have on the lives of its sufferers (and those around them), it should perhaps be the one to receive most backing.
Moreover, although from the 20th century (and above all in the second half) onwards, great headway has been made with respect to the social acceptance of mental illness, we can say that there is still a long way to go before mental health loses the pejorative, disturbing halo surrounding it and relegating it to the shadows of the things we refuse to accept.
This lack of attention and mistrust doesn’t however change the fact that, according to figures published by the World Health Organisation, over 400 million people the world over suffer from some kind of mental illness or neurological disorder. Schizophrenia, psychosis, manic depression or the very wide range of totally run-of-the-mill depressive conditions are terrible travelling companions in the lives of many. They are also an extremely serious problem for the families of these people, who are unable to deal single-handed with a situation that surpasses them.
The first battle to be won with respect to mental illness is to overcome this stigmatising attitude somewhere between guilt and hiding, to accept it once and for all as one of the most widely existing health questions, and one that like any other which has its own specificities.
Proper treatment and essential medical, social and institutional backing can help sufferers of mental illnesses to lead a normal life, just like other sufferers of any kind of ailment.