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Society urged to show mentally ill compassion

After 47-year-old Hsueh Ai-min (薛愛民), who claimed his local authorities were persecuting him, tried to drive his car containing two bottles of gasoline into the Presidential Office last week, the media went into a frenzy chasing his relatives and neighbors to investigate Hsueh's mental state.

Ku Yu-jane (顧玉珍), CEO of the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation (台灣媒體觀察基金會), said yesterday that this was an example of the local media's tendency to exaggerate the violence committed by people with mental illnesses.

"The media tend to portray people with mental illnesses as criminals, and reporters sometimes judge a suspect to be afflicted with a mental illness before they know it as a fact," Ku said.

"Sometimes the media reveals patients' identity against their will and creates an invisible barrier against the working, citizenship and marriage rights of the patients," Ku said.

The media is also quick to report that certain criminals have a mental illness.

She gave the example of Indonesian maid Winarshih, who killed her employer, presidential advisor Liu Hsia (劉俠). The media reported that Winarshih was suffering from a mental illness a month before the official report on her mental state was released in March.

Ku urged the media not to exaggerate the violent crimes committed by people with mental illnesses, report more on the bright side and try to protect mentally handicapped people from unnecessary attention.

"The probability of people with mental illnesses [committing a violent crime] is as low as 5 out of 10,000," said Chang Min (張敏), a board member of the Taiwan Society of Psychiatry (台灣精神醫學會). "Mental illness is really just one kind of illness and it should not be stigmatized."

Chin Lin (金林), an official of the Mental Rehabilitation Association (康復之友協會), said that the association had been trying hard to invite patients who have recovered from mental illness to show up and share their experiences at the press conference, but none of them wanted to come.

"The best example of the stigmatization of those with mental illnesses is their unwillingness to show themselves because they are afraid their appearance would cause problems for themselves and their families," Chin said.

"If one day we can talk about mental illness like we chat about high blood pressure, or we can tell our boss openly that we need days off to go to hospital to have our mental illness treated, then Taiwan would be a country really based on human rights," Chin said.

In the absence of those who had been cured, the association instead read out statements from people who are still suffering.

"It feels so helpless that the status quo cannot be changed. I am just sick in the head, but I do not hit or kill others. I am not like what the media describes as `a time bomb waiting to explode at any time,'" said one of them, named A-fang (阿芳).
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