by ISOBEL LEYBOLD-JOHNSON
PHOTO/Keystone
In Switzerland, as elsewhere, mental illness remains a taboo – despite the country having one of the highest number of psychiatrists per capita in the world. Campaigners argue that it is time to break down this culture of silence.
Would you hire someone who was mentally ill? Would you let them babysit for you? Only 38% would do the former, with just 14.2%, doing the latter, according to a survey of attitudes to mental illness which was presented at the launch in Zurich, in early October, of Switzerland’s first national campaign targeting the taboos around mental illness. (See infobox)
“European societies have opened their minds towards mental illness but mostly on a certain level: you may be in favour of taking certain measures generally, but if it comes to actually employing someone who is mentally ill, then that makes things different,” said Wulf Rössler, the former director, now retired, of the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, who presented the overview.
“With a babysitter, that’s really sensitive, people want to defend their children. Then it becomes really obvious what people think about the mentally ill.”
Which was, the survey found, that some people thought that they were “dangerous”, “unpredictable” and their illness was “their own fault”. Even professionals in the field can sometimes have certain prejudices, added Rössler. This is why an anti-taboo campaign is so important, he said.
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