Reports Of Mental Illness

Canadian attitudes toward mental illness are a cause for concern, the Canadian Medical Association said Monday in releasing its annual report card on health care. The group's eighth annual report surveyed Canadians to measure attitudes and experiences with the health-care system."This year’s report card shines a harsh, and frankly unflattering, light on the attitudes we Canadians have concerning mental health," said the group's president, Dr. Brian Day, in a release.

The survey found:

• Almost half of Canadians, 46 per cent, think people use the term mental illness as an excuse for bad behaviour.
• One in four Canadians are fearful of being around those who suffer from serious mental illness.
• Half of Canadians would tell friends or coworkers that they have a family member with a mental illness, compared to 72 per cent for a diagnosis of cancer or 68 per cent for diabetes.
• Most Canadians, 61 per cent, would be unlikely to go to a family doctor with a mental illness, and 58 per cent would shy away from hiring a lawyer, child-care worker or financial adviser with the illness.

Being a part of our very poorly informed culture, my sisters and brothers were not really aware of any sort of mental illness.