The (In)Visibility of Mental 'Illness'

(Originally written: October, 2010)

As we work in our communities and relate to our loved ones - particularly those of us who identify as socially conscious and who are pursuing social justice ideals - there is an area of awareness that seems very lacking and it is around mental health issues. I am speaking of the day to day barriers that can be experienced by folks who have mental health challenges, and the assumptions we all hold in our daily interactions, and in the type of community work we do.

The issue of course is complex, and reflective of a lack of education around mental health in general, and the fact that we all have it; we all manage it – whether we are aware of it or not. Our awareness of mental health issues, or lack thereof, goes hand in hand with societal expectations of normalcy around cognitive functioning, how we view intelligence, social competence, affect/emotion regulation, and especially what we deem to be socially appropriate interpersonal behaviour. There is much stigma around issues of mental health and behavioural challenges, without any thought being given to the framing of mental illness as an invisible disability.

Much of the popular discourse hones in on mental health issues as belonging to serial killers and psychopaths and leaves much to be desired in terms of relaying actual facts. What’s more, social determinants of health are often ignored and instead derogatory language such as ‘bums’ freely used to describe what are often folks who have slipped through the service system and may have precarious mental health. Even amongst so-called professionals who work in systems focussing on the treatment of mental illness, many stereotypes and a general lack of understanding prevail.

If you look around your friends, family and community, what do you know about mental health challenges? What do you know about access to resources for folks who may have them? Did you know that it is often much harder to qualify for things like disability status due to the focus on physiological centered notions of disability? Based on the criteria for meeting disability status, disabilities of the regulation of emotions and behaviour, as well as ability to cope are minimized and obscured. As well, folks who struggle with concurrent substance use issues are subject to even more stigma, denial of, and lack of resources.

But what does it look like to have mental health issues? Can you tell me if you would know, if a friend of yours was suffering from depression, for example? If you are doing activist community work and you are trying to hold others accountable for the work they do, are you making assumptions about their mental health based on notions of functionality? People you know, love and work with may be struggling with mental health issues on a daily basis without your awareness. You might not even notice if they make allusions to what most certainly is a very private, hidden battle in many cases due to the aforementioned stigma involved and the pressure to conform to ideals of normal functioning and relating.

The fact is, mental health is invisible. Unless you make an effort to see past your own assumptions around normalcy, emotional functioning and behaviour, you likely wouldn’t know what mental health barriers folks are challenged with. Folks in our community who hold full time jobs, help others, participate in organizing, who have many friends and loved ones, engage in life in many different beautiful ways might be dealing with a very private struggle around anxiety, depression, bi-polar, interpersonal relationships and coping strategies, substance misuse, or complex post traumatic stress, for example.

We just don’t know. But, if we pay attention to our own assumptions around functioning; if we start to tackle our own notions of mental health and illness – if we start to see others not for how they present, but for the complex beings which we all are, we might begin to provide a safer environment for folks to talk about their struggles, and provide comfort, support and acceptance. We may provide a more compassionate community setting in which we recognize the invisibility of mental health challenges and consider this in our anti-oppressive work.


And we may realize that there is no such thing as a ‘crazy’ person.