Challenging stigma on Twitter: Asda and Tesco's 'mental health patient' costume

Sarah Robertson Lighten up, it is not a big deal, it is Halloween, it is a joke.

Forgive me for taking life to seriously but, branding a blood-stained strait-jacket costume, complete with meat cleaver, as a ‘mental patient’ possibly isn’t that funny to the one in four people battling mental illness.

It get that it is Halloween, it is horror, it is gore. It is supposed to be ‘scary.’

But that’s exactly what mental illness is not supposed to be.

In fact, I believe a ‘mental patient’ on a ‘pyscho ward’ is more likely to be scared of the world around them, than the world should be of them.

Fighting back at stigma on social media works

As for what one looks like, well, me for one – and I can confirm I’ve not worn a strait jacket nor do I own a meat cleaver. I don’t particularly like blood either, ask my phlebotomist.

Whether you think it’s an overreaction or a political correct world gone ‘mad’ what the last 24 hours does show is fighting back at stigma on social media works. It makes headlines, for the right reasons.

But it also triggers critics who say it’s ‘just a costume or mask.’ Well, it’s not just a mask to some, it’s something which reinforces a stigma that makes it harder for people to remove the masks of their own mental health issues. It creates fear for them.

I’m proud I was involved in the late-night flood of Twitter outrage

As a ‘mental patient’ I’m proud I was involved in the late-night flood of Twitter outrage over the costume, but also afterwards, challenging some of the stigma-fuelled views appearing because Asda’s bad taste was challenged.

I hope the supermarkets learn from this (maybe Asda’s donation to Time to Change should also include some mental health awareness training?) I hope it taps into the brains of the manufacturers and retail bosses who put these costumes out there.

I hope it makes them step back and think a little more about the bigger picture or even just about the staff they WILL have that suffer from a mental health problem.

This isn’t just about a couple of blood-stained Halloween costumes, this is about educating people on the reality of mental illness in 2013, not falling back to the ignorant views of mental illness better suited to 1813. Now that is scary.