Time to Change responds to Observer article

Time to Change were disappointed to read the comments made in "You don't have to be crazy to run the country but it helps - (Catherine Bennett, 14 Feb 2010).

The assumption that having psychological problems is deemed to be unhelpful for politicians and political leaders to fulfil their roles, and that this is widely tolerated, is flawed.

Section 141 of the Mental Health Act means that MPs face losing their job if they are ever sectioned for more than six months. This outdated legislation fuels a fear that disclosing when they are struggling to cope with the symptoms of a mental illness is bad for their political careers, which leaves people less likely to seek help at an earlier stage and employing techniques to hide it.

This is no different from the rest of the population, where the anticipation of discrimination prevents most people from seeking help for a mental health problem at an early stage. The only difference is that politicians, party leaders and their advisors are in powerful positions as are doctors, nurses and airline pilots who hold our lives in their hands.

What Bennett is suggesting is that the public will not tolerate psychological problems in these professions, and she is largely right. A recent study showed one in five MPs has experienced mental distress, but many fear disclosing this and would anticipate a hostile reaction.

However, perhaps we underestimate the ability for the public to sympathise with these issues. After all none of us are perfect and we all have our psychological flaws. When Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik spoke openly about his experience of mental distress it did not affect his popularity. He went on to be re-elected and proved that people who have experienced mental health problems can recover and manage a challenging job.

It is outdated, and unjust, to allow any professional to be treated unfairly based purely on their mental health status or past history. Nurses, doctors and airline pilots should not be prevented from practising when they have recovered from their mental health problems, or are now managing the symptoms and neither should MPs.

Stigma delays people seeking help and this is what should cause alarm not an assumption that people with mental health problems are a risk to others, their patients, their passengers and the country as a whole.