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	TX: 15.03.05 - Call You and Yours聽- Mental Health Part 1 PRESENTER: LIZ BARCLAY

	THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. BARCLAY And on Call You and Yours at around half past twelve we ask what it would take to change the public perception of people with mental health problems. Yesterday we discussed why mental health is bottom of the pile when it comes to the political agenda. Margaret Dixon whose shoulder operation was cancelled seven times became embroiled in a huge political row and the papers had a field day. But we never wake up to indignant headlines about Nigel's cancelled therapy session or Pauline's schizophrenia. So why doesn't mental illness arouse the same public sympathy that a physical condition does and what can be done to alter the public's perception of mental health in the UK and the people affected? People like Emma. Emma was sexually abused as a very young child and suffers from multi-personality disorder. EMMA I have lots of different identities who are all different ages. A few of them are different in the way they thing and the way they perceive my life, they kind of retell me it, usually in dialogue or by actions - drawing or whatever. BARCLAY How do they manifest themselves? EMMA Basically it's like being in charge of the most challenging family in the world, except they're all internal. They have identities who range from being babies right up to adults - some with advanced years and knowledge, I have knowledge on subjects I didn't know I had knowledge on. For example, one of my identities can actually talk in fluent sign language I've just discovered and I had no idea. BARCLAY When did these symptoms start to show themselves? EMMA After my mum died I started getting memories back of the abuse and I became more and more aware of the identities being around. BARCLAY At that point then did you go for treatment? EMMA Yeah I started seeing a counsellor - a crisis counsellor. I saw one of them for eight weeks. I didn't really get very far with that particular counsellor. BARCLAY And why was that? EMMA Well basically it was just a lack of compatibility, he had very strong views about things and tended to think I should pull myself together, so it didn't really - it didn't really work. BARCLAY And then? EMMA I went to a project called the Marketplace, which I found really, really useful. It's for young people, it's based in Leeds and I received counselling there and that was open on Saturdays, which meant I could just drop in there and just sit and read a book or whatever with other people around me, so that was really useful. I had to leave that service when I reached 25 because they had sort of a cut off age. BARCLAY What do you think about the services that are provided for people like you who have a mental condition? EMMA I think that they're very oppressive, they like to keep you in a submissive position where they have sort of the control over your treatment and what happens to you. I also think they're not consistent and it's hit and miss as to what you actually get from the services, what input you get. BARCLAY And what about the public's perception of mental ill health? EMMA It can vary, people can get uncomfortable with being around me sometimes. I was in one group, it was an evening class I did, and I was talking to one woman and she actually got up and walked across the room and never spoke to me again. And things like people will crack jokes about, you know - do you want a drink? And then they'll say - how many do you want? Do you want one for each of your personalities? Things like that. BARCLAY So what do we have to do to make people treat you and other people with mental ill health conditions the same as everybody else? EMMA I'd like some more positive images, people with mental health in the media and showing people's achievements and things that they've overcome. I think the media need to also and the government need to accept that people who do have long term problems there's not a quick fix for them and I think patients need to be empowered to take positive action and control of their own lives. BARCLAY That's what Emma would like to see changed. But when it comes to awareness of mental health problems patients only make the news when they're violent, how do we change that? Dr Trevor Turner is vice president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Dr Turner, what can we do to overcome that stigma attached to mental illness? TURNER Stigma's been around for generations, it's built into our psyche, so to speak. And it creates disbelief that people are really ill, mockery, uncertainty, the desire to seclude. So it's a real battle to make any real changes. It's got to be quite organic and from the bottom, in terms of education of children, avoiding the use of abusive language in the playground, it's got to take on board a broad campaign, a la the gay and anti-racist campaigns. And the Every Family in the Land campaign of the college is ongoing as we speak, as we try to combat the particular difficulty. Better treatments help, giving a coherent user voice, as we've just heard. And the notion that people can recover and that somehow it's always going to be untreatable. The real problem, I think, is at the heart of it we all want certainty, people are desperate for things to be definite clear and certain, so confronted with someone who is mentally ill - a mad person - they're fearful as to how that person might behave towards them and of course they're even more fearful they might go that way themselves, so they prefer to exclude rather than understand. BARCLAY But as you said, a la the let's say the sexism and racism legislation that has come in, is this going to take as long? TURNER I would imagine so, which is rather sad. There are certain things that can be done, as we've - as some people have mentioned in terms of not excluding mental illness on things like insurance policies, which is very cruel really. You can think about employing people who've got mental illnesses and not excluding them thereby. But everyone knows, you talk to any patient, any mention of their history, sorry we don't want to see you. BARCLAY Dr Turner, thank you for the moment. What do you think? Is it time that politicians put mental health on their agenda and improved mental healthcare provision or maybe you think that mental health shouldn't be a priority, that those who are mentally unwell should pull themselves together and we should concentrate NHS resources on treatment for cancer and heart disease. You can e-mail us through the website bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours. Please remember to leave your phone number so that we can call you back. Or call us on 08700 100 444. Those calls cost around 8 pence a minute and if you don't want to hang on we will call you back. And Dr Turner will be here to discuss your views and suggestions. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for external websites

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