Mental health uproar
We were dismayed and shocked to read the Mirror’s highly disrespectful preview of the Montreal International Celtic Festival [“Kookoo Celts and park parties,” by Chris Barry, Aug. 8], which took cruel aim at Douglas Hospital patients attending the event.

People with mental illnesses are not laughable. They are not “mental cases.” They deserve the highest level of respect and compassion. There is nothing humorous about having a mental illness.

They need to know that, in the vast majority of cases, their illnesses are highly treatable, and that they deserve and will receive support in their efforts to achieve wellness.

In the future, we strongly counsel reporter Chris Barry to refrain from employing devices worthy only of an irresponsible journalist. Understand that the hurtful, distorted images you conjure can stigmatize and alienate affected people and their families and may even discourage people from getting help. Wouldn’t it be tragic for even one reader to, out of shame, forfeit seeking or continuing treatment that could dramatically improve his or her quality of life?

Douglas Hospital mental health professionals dedicate their professional lives to helping people combat the challenges of mental illness. Numerous community organizations work tirelessly to support the reintegration of people with mental illnesses into our communities.

Outdated caricatures such as this only hinder our combined efforts.
-Jacques Hendlisz, General Director, Douglas Hospital

Mr. Barry seriously discredits people suffering with mental illness in his article about the Montreal Celtic Festival. He gives the impression that the people attending the festival detracted not only from the musical environment of the festival but from the company that he would have preferred to be with. Music, and good music at that, should be accessible to everyone. Everybody has the right to respect, regardless of their state of health. The pettiness of Mr. Barry’s article is prejudiced towards our people.

Our organization works with people suffering with mental health problems. We help them integrate into society. The tone of Mr. Barry’s article cultivates stereotypes towards people suffering from mental illness. Your paper has demonstrated a lack of professionalism in publishing this article-the values that you promoted allow people to be comfortable in the prejudices that they have towards our clientele.

As for Mr. Barry, we would like to remind him that nobody is immune to mental illness. We hope that he won’t have to be afflicted with mental illness himself before developing empathy toward our clientele.
-Gabriel Bouchard, Coordinator, Community Support Project

Regarding the article on “Kookoo Celts.” We are a community organization that offers assistance to a number of men who have been diagnosed with mental health problems. We would like to register our sadness in reading this article, since it is a step backwards in informing the public of the nature of mental illness. Such diseases strike the brain, rather than another part of the body. People who have problems of this sort are no more ridiculous or amusing, as the article claims, than those afflicted with cancer or heart diseases.

We consider that the remarks made were disrespectful and callous toward this segment of the population that is already suffering in a number of ways. People with mental-health problems deserve compassion and help, not mockery.

-Bertrand and Betty Lessard, Executive and Assistant Directors, Montreal Booth Centre

Chris Barry responds: I’d like to believe-perhaps naïvely-that most people are capable of recognizing that the caricature of the mentally ill I made jokes about was just that-a caricature. No stranger to mental illness, nor to the fine work being done at the Douglas Hospital, again I’d like to believe it goes without saying we all recognize that mental illness is no fun and very clearly a serious issue. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be allowed to laugh at the absurd stereotype of the “mental patient” as a wild-eyed drooling lunatic tugging on his/her ding-dong day and night. Sheesh, stereotypes exist to be ridiculed, and that’s all that was intended by the remarks which have caused you so much anxiety. My apologies if the intended humour was too ambiguous or the joke simply didn’t work. Long live Frances Farmer!