Mental health & Teaching

STOP THE STIGMA

MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS AND TEACHING

By Stephen Wilson

 

             'Having a mental illness is like having a criminal record. Only a week ago my friend from school said this. Do you tell them {employers} or don't you??? You might cost the company or establishment money or else as one teacher said to me, that, "You [meaning me] might attack the children". That was when I worked as a classroom assistant from 2000-2001, for 59 pounds a week from 9 to 3.30 p.m. five days a week. I was not allowed to sit with the other classroom assistant in the staff room with the teachers. I had to eat my pack lunch in the corridor' a friend recently informed me. Her experience happened twenty years ago but my distinct impression is that very little substantial progress has been made in tackling entrenched misunderstanding, prejudice and ignorance which many people with mental health problems experience all over the world. My correspondent is a teacher who has worked abroad and in Scotland who I will call 'Mary' because she prefers that we do not disclose her real name.

 

             INCREASED PUBLICITY CREATES COMPLACENCY

 

             Although increased publicity and campaigning has been done to raise the awareness of mental health problems to challenge the stigma by educating people as well as calls for more effective funding and treatment, the problems of mental health problems may be increasing rather than declining. It could be because more media attention conveys the misleading impression that something substantial is actually being done thus making people complacent. If

someone else appears to be doing something about a problem, then I don't need to do anything about it. The letters which I receive from Scotland are sometimes stamped with a printed slogan from a mental health awareness campaign appealing for correspondents to consider such problems.

 

             From the information I have received from Mary it seems that effectively challenging the stigma has a long way to go. I recall on one visit to Scotland how a friend I met in a pub told me how he had thrown a person with mental health problems out of a pub for "babbling nonsense". Mary stated that if a person stated they had a physical illness they would obtain sympathy, but if they mentioned they had a mental health problem, they would look upon you as almost being a criminal. It is small wonder that people prudently keep any

mental health problems to themselves. Perhaps it is due to the influence of films or literature, but a false common stereotype is that people who suffer from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are aggressive and are more likely to attack

you than your average person. However, much research indicates that most of those people are less aggressive than normal people. They are far more likely to harm themselves than other people. That is why it is absurd not to let another teacher into a teacher staff room because of this. And this is in a school where you would surely expect people to be more educated and intelligent in their response. But how are schools going to react if their colleagues crack up because of the stress of the job? Are they going to drive them out the classroom in case the teacher attacks them? Because this is the growing reality of the situation in schools not just in Scotland and England, but America. This is confirmed by recent surveys carried out in 2019 by the Nuffield Foundation on the mental health being of teachers in England based on the data of 20,000 staff. It found that 5% of teachers today are suffering from long long lasting mental health problems. Another recent survey by the National Foundation for Educational research found that one out of five teachers are tense most or all the time, and such a profession experiences more stress than others. School teachers

commonly complain of panic attacks, anxiety and insomnia. The reasons for this stress is no mystery: over-testing, overcrowded classrooms, endless accountability and terrible working conditions.

 

             A HARD MAN CULTURE

 

             It is important to acknowledge that mental health problems are not something alien and outside schools and universities. On the contrary, they have become practically part of the buildings! Researchers have found that 32% of PhD students were at risk of having a psychiatric disorder. At the University of Arizona, 75% of doctorate students had above average stress levels. This may be because they are being asked to overwork for free in the evenings and at weekends.

             In numerous parts of Scotland, 'a hard man culture' prevails. That is a person is expected to be hard, not show emotions or shed a tear. The men have to be as tough as nails or they will be teased or trodden under foot by bullies. To show too much kindness to others is to be a 'softie'. In a fight, you no longer fight like gentlemen as a century ago, but kick a person even when he is down. This was the culture I partly grew up in though there were always exceptions! Cracking up

is taboo. This is one of the reasons why eccentrics or sensitive people can face remorseless mockery or bemused and bewildered actions from the crowd.

             People who experience mental health problems in Scotland can face a lot of prejudice not to mention ill treatment. People can shun you, exclude you from their company and make fun of you. A patient who suffered from schizophrenia once told me, "I heard that the staff at those hospitals were making fun of their patients behind their back. They were mimicking the patients." One thing which a nurse is taught during training is never to discuss a patient with

another person in a public place. For the parent or even a relative of this patient could overhear you. But the main point is that a patient is entitled to dignity and should be treated well. Now if psychiatric nurses are mocking their patients in

some hospitals you might wonder the extent of prejudice among people who have no training or education !  I recall how people with mental health problems were mocked at school as 'headbangers'. They still are.

 

             INTENSE SUFFERING BEYOND  MUCH UNDERSTANDING

 

             According to Mary, some of the problems experienced by those afflicted with an attack of schizophrenia can be terrifying. You hear and believe strange voices and feel a loss of control. "You can't imagine what it is like to have this experience.

             I think only people who gone through this can really understand my condition. Even trained psychiatrists can't fully understand us." I recall one patient who told me, "It was a real nightmare. I was having hallucinations where I swore I saw this ugly green creature from another planet sitting on my bed looking at me".  However, there is medication which is available for people to take to curb or contain the recurrence of such attacks. For instance, Mary had to take medicine called Olanzapine. Although taking this medicine helps, it can have terrible side effects such Odema where the feet swell up from excessive leaking water as well as putting on weight. Patients who take this medicine feel hungry all the time and can put on weight. Mary told me that she was once subject to 'fat shaming' when a tactless person shouted at her, "Hi, Fatty, why are you here? Is you local town not good enough for you". However, her psychiatrist decided to prescribe a new drug called Lamotrigine which may have less adverse side effects. Mary wrote, "Even if I don't lose weight, I am helping reduce my chances of heart failure or getting diabetes ... My brother told me that my feet are no longer swelling up so much." Mary seems to be leading an active life as an author, a cook, can do gardening, can sing well , write verse and seems to have many talents. She could play a very important role in improving the awareness of people concerning all kinds of problems which people face. Let us hope that people begin to listen to her wise voice and learn something new.

 

             PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS DO WORK AS TEACHERS

                          

             But if we return to the question, 'Could a person with past mental health problems work within a school?' After all, a school is a highly stressful place which seems hardly conductive to mental well being! It largely depends on the kind of problem and how much the person might cope with it. In my school, an art teacher with mental health problems managed to carry on teaching. The great English poet Gerald Manley Hopkins suffered from manic depression but could still work as a teacher at a university in Dublin. By the way, those people never attacked anyone in the staff room. There are numerous cases where teachers with mental health problems have managed to cope. So having a record of ill mental health should not be an excuse for disqualifying a person from working in school or from visiting the staff room. In fact, a person with a mental health problem might be a great plus as they can empathize with school children who are also experiencing such problems. They can play a key role in preventing the potential outbreak of such a problem. They could bring unique insight and invaluable personal knowledge to school. Schools are not just about imparting knowledge to pass exams, but to help children to cope with unexpected and acute life problems which can arise.

             And who knows? May be the teacher who had past mental health problems just might be the only person who understands the particular problem of a school child who is convinced, "Nobody understands me". And the intervention of that teacher might make a profound difference.