‘Alcoholics get more attention than mentally-ill’

ALCOHOL abuse receives more attention from Government than mental illness because of the stigma mental illness carries, former political adviser and learning disability campaigner Fergus Finlay said yesterday.

“I don’t think people in the political system think alcohol is a mental health problem at all,” said Mr Finlay, during a discussion in Dublin organised by the Irish Psychiatric Association on moving mental healthcare up the political agenda.

Alcohol abuse was so high up the agenda that even the drinks industry placed advertisements urging people to drink sensibly. He believes the healthcare system has to take some blame.

“Anyone in Ireland with a child with a learning disability can recall at some time or other being spoken to by a psychologist or social worker in words of one syllable and very slowly,” Mr Finlay said.

St Patrick’s Hospital medical director Professor Patrick McKeon said the stigma would remain unless people with a mental illness were encouraged to be more forthright.

He said: “People who acknowledge they are alcoholics and get treatment are seen as strong people.”

However, people with mental health issues often have low self-esteem, said Prof McKeon.

“But when they are forthright about their own experience, society is extremely supportive.”

Consultant neurologist Dr Orla Hardiman believes recovering alcoholics are seen as strong people because they fight a disease.

“There is a stigma about mental illness because it is felt that your moral fibre is weak,” she said.