Launch of Fighting Shadows research report

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and  as it is the morning (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Materoa Mar and Judi Clements, Chairperson and Chief Executive respectively of the Mental Health Foundation; you Darryl Bishop, Ministry of Health Programme Leader for the Like Minds, Like Mine Campaign; Researchers Debbie Peterson, Alex Barnes and Chloe Duncan; research participants and reference group members; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for the invitation to my wife Susan and I to be here and for me to launch the Foundation's research into mental health and self-stigma, Fighting Shadows: Self-Stigma And Mental Illness (Whawhai atu te Whakam Hihira).

I shall launch the new research publication in a few moments, but just before doing so, I wish to speak briefly as to its significance and its part in the chemistry of changing attitudes of New Zealanders to mental health issues.

Mental health is a pressing issue facing governments, health sectors and communities, not just in New Zealand, but elsewhere.  According to the World Health Organization, mental illness accounts for 15 percent of the total burden of disease in the developed world, with depression said to be likely to become the second leading world-wide cause of disability by 2020.

Recent research in New Zealand, particularly Te Rau Hinengaro: New Zealand Mental Health Survey, found that 47 percent of New Zealanders will experience a mental illness and/or addiction at some point in their lives, with one in five people affected within one year.

The treatment of those living with a mental illness has also changed.  There was a time when those living with mental illnesses—and some sadly who were not but were people with personalities that might not fit the norm—were secured in hospitals.  As is well known one of those people was one of New Zealand's greatest writers, the late Janet Frame, who was only saved from having a lobotomy operation when her first book, The Lagoon and Other Stories won an award in 1951, this being noted by a hospital employee.  It almost makes one shudder to think how much might have been lost had that operation been carried out.

Thankfully those days are past and since the 1992 mental health legislation many changes have been wrought including closure of a great many hospitals. 

A key part of that has been the Ministry of Health's innovative campaign, Like Minds, Like Mine, which has achieved considerable success in countering the discrimination experienced by people with mental illness. 

By using the personal stories of positive role models who live with a mental illness—and the views of their supportive friends, family and whanau—the campaign has over the last decade reduced stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness and made positive changes in public acceptance towards people with mental illness.  A survey undertaken by the Mental Health Commission in 2005 found that New Zealand was ahead of the world in terms of community acceptance of those with mental illnesses.

The significance of the campaign was brought home to me when, in May, I travelled to the United Nations in New York to receive, on behalf of New Zealand, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt [FDR] International Disability Award for 2007.  New Zealand received this prestigious award for many initiatives to assist those living with disabilities.  One initiative specifically highlighted in the submission made to those making the award was the Like Minds, Like Mine campaign.

For those who do not live with a mental illness, we can still be brought to understand and appreciate how stereotypical attitudes and discrimination can limit the lives of people living with mental illness.

But on the other side of the coin, what is more difficult to understand, and less well understood, is how the attitudes of people with mental illness towards themselves and their illness may limit their lives and opportunities.

Building on the Like Minds, Like Mine campaign, Fighting Shadows explores the impact of self-stigma on those living with mental illnesses.  What is so refreshing about this research by the Mental Health Foundation is that it not only outlines important data and findings, but it also ensures the voices of those with mental illnesses are heard. 

As one participant said:  "Someone told me that you've got to prove that you're the best person when you go for a job. And if you don't believe that, then it's not worth even trying." 

These, and many other quotes in the publication, show that behind the findings and the numbers are real people, whose lives have not only been crushed by their illness but has also been kept in that place by the weight of the negative attitudes they carry on their shoulders. 

What this report shows is that while New Zealand has achieved much in tackling stereotyped and discriminatory views of people with mental illnesses, there is still a long way to go.

While as a society we may now be more tolerant of people with mental illnesses, the underlying values have yet to change.  That young children, for example, can make fun of and express prejudiced views of people with mental illnesses, shows how deep seated those attitudes really may be in our society.

In the same way that I have urged all New Zealanders to be more than just tolerant of those who are culturally or religiously different from us, I make the same plea to better understand those living with mental illnesses. 

Getting to know those who have a mental illness will not be fraught if we are prepared to get to know people as they are, not as we conceive them to be.  These means we need to see them as individuals.

Too often we use the simple observation of behaviour as the answer to understanding people - without analysis and without reflection.  When I returned to New Zealand and presented the FDR Award to the Minister for Disability Issues, Hon Ruth Dyson, I made mention of an example of how we can so easily misconstrue others.

The example was that of a contemporary researcher recounting how he had seen a man in the street talking loudly to himself and gesticulating with his hands.  He readily admitted to how, almost without thinking, he had jumped to a conclusion that the man had a mental illness.  However, he had had immediately to reassess that notion when the man turned around and was seen to be talking on a hands free cell phone.

The challenge of Fighting Shadows is to move toward a real understanding of those living with mental illnesses and the challenges that they face. The challenge is to stop jumping to conclusions and to treat people as individuals and not as members of an amorphous group.

I therefore add congratulations to the Mental Health Foundation, and particularly to the authors, for undertaking this research and the Ministry of Health for funding it.  The report is both a tool for change and a pointer to future research.  It is another of the items in New Zealand's toolkit of addressing mental health issues in a contemporary way that is drawing attention from people in other jurisdictions as to what is happening here.

In a role before my present job I was involved in another innovation that of chairing the work of the Forum for Former In Patients of Psychiatric Hospitals.  Despite misgiving some 500 people came forward and related their accounts as patients or family members or staff.

Returning to Fighting Shadows most of all I want to thank the men and women of many ages and ethnicities—people living with mental illnesses—who shared their stories and experiences.  Their honesty and courage are an inspiration to everyone. 

In the report, one of the participants is quoted as saying: "Self-stigma stops you reaching your dreams.  Stops you having dreams.  Dreams are what keep you going."

I trust this report will be an important step to giving hope and dreams to those living with mental illness.  So it is with great pleasure that I officially launch Fighting Shadows—Self-Stigma And Mental Illness.

And on that note, I will close in Maori, offering greetings and wishing everyone good health and fortitude in your endeavours. No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.