Halloween attractions exploiting mental illness

One afternoon this past week, I was scrolling down my Facebook feed until I came across an article a friend had posted from the Washington Post. The headline read “Halloween attractions use mental illness to scare us. Here’s why advocates say it must stop”. It discussed how a lady had gone into a local Halloween attraction and had entered a part of the event that was called the “7th asylum”. Here is the description that they had of the 7th asylum: “You would be crazy to tour this twisted asylum. Lost and tortured souls are all that remain, but you’ll see plenty that will make you question your sanity. The 7th ward was home to Carolina’s most chronically insane. From murderers to crazed psychopaths, many of the poor souls trapped behind the Gothic walls would spend their entire lives there. As you walk these halls today, be sure to stay with your group. This is one place you don’t want to be committed”.

I had to take a minute to digest everything – from the headline to the description of the 7th ward asylum – as I never thought for a split second how Halloween and the gimmicks that come with the day exploit mental illness. Taking in everything that I had looked at, I felt mortified.

As I’ve mentioned a few times on here, I too suffer from a mental illness – I’ve been dealing with severe depression for the past nine years. Last November, I had a scare and ended up in the hospital. I was taken to the mental health ward and while I was not admitted to it (they let me go after a few hours), I can recall everything crystal clear – from the way I felt being in that room, isolated and by myself even though it was unlocked to witnessing other patients who were admitted for weeks being treated by nurses – which is why things really stung when I read the article on the Washington Post.

Painting an image of those who are admitted to psych wards are “murderers” and “crazed psychopaths” is demoralizing and discriminating. I speak from my own experience when I say, I have never once thought of hurting anyone throughout my battle – the only individual that has been harmed, is myself. So for these attractions all over the world that are created to look and depict mental asylums – saying phrases like “you’re going to die, I’m going to kill you” or “the voices in my head are telling me to do this” is showcasing a ridiculous misrepresentation of mental illness patients.

What angers me the most is that the message these attractions are saying is that everyone should be afraid of people with mental illness. It’s one of those situations which makes me question how one can even paint an image like that. Now, according to the article in the States some of these attractions have shut down because of mental health advocates, however I have yet to see that happen in Canada. I guess that just means we need to work harder to put the end to mental stigma