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I've faced stigma related to my condition pretty much my whole life.
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Sadly, within the medical profession as well as
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from wider society. I've missed out on career opportunities,
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I've been treated as a liability when I've been unwell at work and I've been
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made to feel like I did something wrong, which only feeds into the shame and stigma of the condition itself.
0:23
I'm a doctor, so I practise nephrology, which is kidney disease.
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Outside of medicine, I like reading, I do a lot of creative writing,
0:31
I play piano as well, and I'm a passionate mental health advocate.
0:36
I've done a lot to try and destigmatise mental health so that people understand what it feels like to be a patient living with bipolar disorder.
0:47
We have to be the change that we want to see in the world, and I want to see a world where open disclosure is commonplace.
0:53
I don't think I've ever heard a colleague openly admitting to not coming to work because of mental health issues.
1:00
We're much more game to say I've got a migraine than I have anxiety.
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And so I made it a policy for myself that I would openly disclose for every job application
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and be upfront about my mental health condition.
1:18
At a systems level.
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I think first and foremost we need education and understanding around what
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mental health conditions look like, and there really needs to be a sense of
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safety and a culture of discussing mental health conditions in the workplace.
1:32
We've got a much better chance of actively helping people if we understand
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their conditions, if we talk to them about it,
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if we create a space of sharing and vulnerability so that employees will feel
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comfortable openly disclosing their condition.
1:46
These sorts of policy changes and discussions have to come from the top down.
1:51
Stigma has definitely affected my confidence because I'm someone that
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prides myself on at least trying to be a good person.
2:00
And when you're manic you do a lot of terrible things and you say a lot of terrible things
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that you don't necessarily mean.
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I felt a need to apologise to so many people for so long.
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Eventually when I got more confident, I realised why should I have to apologise?
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Why should I have to apologise for a genetic condition that was triggered for whatever reason?
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Someone with cancer who relapse wouldn't have to apologise,
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they would get sympathy, they would get cards and flowers.
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When I relapse from my mental health condition, I don't get cards and flowers, I don't get sympathy.
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I get met with stigma, shame and all sorts of stipulations on career practise.
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So the difference in how I would be treated if I had a physical illness is worlds apart.
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My vision for mental health would be to legitimise it and to treat people with the same
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tenets of respect, compassion and kindness that we would expect of someone with a physical illness.
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I want to see the same level of research, support, impact,
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education and understanding around mental illness so that we can live in a more
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culturally evolved society that doesn't discriminate and treats people equally as they should.
