Journalists have developed a bad habit if equating terrorism with mental illness. Connecting terrorists to mental illness is lazy journalism. Journalists assume that no one in their right mind would do such a thing; they must be mentally ill, rather than accepting the fact that there is evil in the world executed by evil people. In Canada the media were quick to declare that the men who committed acts of terrorism in Ottawa were mentally ill. And the initial diagnosis of the Germanwings co-pilot was also mental illness.
We have since learned that the Canadian terrorists didn’t commit their horrific crimes because they suffered from a mental illness. And now we are learning about the co-pilot; that depression and anxiety were not the primary cause of his actions.
Dr. James L. Knoll, the director of forensic psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University said that depression and thoughts of suicide, which are commonplace, fall far short of explaining such drastic and statistically rare acts. But to zero in on depression is “a low-yield dead end,” he said, adding, “There’s something fundamentally different here, aside and apart from the depression, and that’s where we need to look.”
Dr. Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist in New York who recently completed a study of 228 mass killers, many of whom also killed themselves said, “The typical personality attribute in mass murderers is one of paranoid traits plus massive disgruntlement,”
But the damage has been done. Connecting these acts of violence with mental illness increases the fear of those of us who live with mental illness, who live well and happy and productive lives. These stories push too many with mental illness back into the shadows and stop those who need help from seeking it for fear of the backlash.
The vast majority of souls who take their own lives are filled with unbearable anxiety or depression or hear voices that are terrifying or have thoughts that scare them to the point they can’t function. One does not make choices, as we understand choice, when mentally unwell. I tell you this from personal experience.
Sadly, we are still living in a time when too many still consider mental illness as a moral failure. “Just pull yourself together. Get over it.” Mental illness is not “moral failure” or a weakness. It’s a physical illness. It’s a breakdown in the brain. It’s a brain illness, treatable when acknowledged. The problem with mental illness is the failure of our society to recognize that mental illness is no different than cancer or HIV/ AIDS.
So, I ask, when will we embrace people with mental illness with the same understanding and empathy that we share with those suffering from cancer or HIV/AIDS?
Television commercials and print material are filled with canvases of family and friends surrounding the patient living with cancer or AIDS, providing comfort and support. Laughing and expressing hope. Cancer and AIDS have become community concerns and responsibilities. Not mental illness.
When someone who is mentally ill causes a tragedy like the Germanwings plane crash, you don’t see people outside the home of the pilot’s family commiserating with his parents and family. You don’t see flowers and stuffed animals, cards of condolence. You see people running away, leaving the devastated parents alone and filled with guilt. Guilt because people say: How did you not know?
After the Germanwings disaster and details were coming out, a TV broadcaster questioned the actions of the ex-girlfriend. She had said she thought something was wrong with him. The broadcaster wanted to know why she didn’t report him. His doctor didn’t report him but it was alright to push some blame onto her. It has to be someone’s fault!
It's the fault of our society. We stigmatize the mentally ill more than any other group. And our journalists have become the number one purveyor of fear because they don’t seem to know the difference between moral and ethical failure and mental illness. They equate them and then you wonder why people with mental illness hide it?
There are no excuses for these disasters. In Ontario, Canada there are laws regarding the treatment of employees who exhibit signs of mental illness. Tim Lawson and Justine Lindner of McCarthy Tetrault LLP in their article: “Lessons from Germanwings: Identifying and Managing Mental Illness in the Workplace" wrote: “The decision not to share medical information reminds us of the social stigma regarding mental health issues and the reluctance of employees to divulge vital information. Employees are more likely to be open with employers about a mental health issue if they feel the employer will be supportive. It could be argued that a culture that does not encourage employees to obtain assistance for a medical issue creates a workplace safety risk.”
Lawson and Lindner added that the Ontario Human Rights Commission released a policy in 2014 which states that employers “must attempt to help a person who is clearly unwell or perceived to have a mental health disability or addiction by inquiring further to see if the person has needs related to a disability and offering assistance and accommodation”. That's a good step.
The onus must not only be on the shoulders of the one with the mental illness. How can we demand of these people that they ask for help when there are times that our illness has taken over and we are unaware how ill we are? We rely on family and friends to notice that we are not well and help us. But they need to know that we are ill. We need laws that legalize sharing this medical information with the family. And then we need to care for these families as we care for everyone else.
We must work to end the pain from mental illness. We must stop declaring horrific acts of violence as actions of the mentally ill without verification. We must make it easier for families and friends to help those who fight to live with mental illness. We must not lose any more of our children, our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters to this treatable illness. This is the lesson we must learn from the terrorist acts last fall in Canada and the crash of the Germanwings flight.
