Dr. Susan Finnerty:

On the question of stigma, much has been done to decrease the stigma. My concern is about stigma surrounding serious mental illness. That has not been tackled as enthusiastically as it might be.

People who have a serious mental illness and may need inpatient care from time to time, or who need help with vocation and accommodation, experience stigma. It is to do with a lack of education about mental illness, especially serious mental illness. People do not realise that those who suffer from a serious mental illness recover and can, and do, live lives in the community the same as any other citizen. The way to tackle that is through more education and publicity around the fact that it is okay to have a mental illness, they are like other illnesses in that they can be treated and people can live lives the same as the rest of us. That is my feeling on it.