Disclosure in the Time to Change Campaign

Erik Baurdoux

HSPR Summer School 2013: Research on Stigma and Discrimination

e.j.baurdoux@lse.ac.uk

A social movement for mental health: individual support

• Started in 2008• 100,000 + Facebook fans• 40,000 + pledges• Celebrity supporters:

Stephen Fry, Ruby Wax, Ulrika Jonsson, Alastair Campbell, Fiona Philips, Frank Bruno, Patsy Palmer…

Personal experience

• First saw Schizo when I was going through an episode of severe depression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJC-AJWNES8

• Experienced misunderstanding and stigma• Internet and writing kept me busy• One of my former professors who disclosed on his

webpage as inspiration• Got involved with Time to Change• Don’t get me wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=E5Ju55ALOLE

What was it like?

• Exciting experience and given the opportunity to do something I was passionate about

• Daunting at times• Great support from Time to Change and mentor as

well as film crew; media-training • Confidence and happy • Heartwarming reactions from many people

A few numbers

•Flat-sharing: Initially over 300 emails •After mental health disclosure: 20% said they did not have a problem with it. Majority of whom mentioned they had previous experience with mental illness (themselves or colleagues)•Similar for dating website

Yougov poll

•Limitations of the experiment (mental health disclosure on website)•Media attention (radio, newspaper, blog)•Facebook activity•Linked with yougov poll: 60% of us would not rent a room to someone with a mental health problem, more than three times as many as who would say no to someone with a physical health problem (18%).

Afterwards

• Underestimated friends/colleagues• Less ashamed to talk about it• Many students contacted me or

colleagues concerned about their tutees• Internet can be a big help for many• Time to Change campaign inspired other

countries

I had a black dog – Matthew Johnstone

Why stigma?

• Brand, burning with a hot iron; stigmata• But mental illness mostly invisible• Very common: we all know someone who is affected

by mental health issues• Feeling of shame (lazy, worthless, etc)• Fear (media portrayal of violent cases)• Lack of understanding; difficult to imagine what it is

like or put into words.

Time to talk

• Get people to talk about it • Normalise mental illness• Time to talk:http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=4tiYbhVBjTk• Hopefully it will help reduce stigma over time• Long-term effort by many people• Time to Change now funded by Department of Health

Thank you!

e.j.baurdoux@lse.ac.ukwww.time-to-change.org.uk/