Depression Discrimination and the Saga of Perceived Instability, or, wow, you got that *so* wrong.

I feel the need to extract myself from radio silence in order to talk about a news article I read online this morning.

A British woman has had an offer for a flight attendant position withdrawn by Emirates after a review of her medical history revealed that she suffered from depression in the past.

… I beg your pardon?

I’m not actually sure how to begin reacting to this. It’s no secret that mental health and mental illness is still widely misunderstood and, as a result, those who suffer from depression are readily discriminated against.

A friend of mine studies law, and over the past couple of years has, at times, not been in a good place. I encouraged her to seek help – counselling, antidepressants – because I was worried and I knew that it had benefitted me when I was unwell. She told me that she didn’t want to because, as a future lawyer, her chances of getting a job were slim should a potential employer do a medical history check and see that she had been treated for depression. At the time I was like surely not no way they can’t do that! but it seems I was wrong, and people do still misunderstand mental illness in a big way.

Mental illness and mental disorders, it seems, aren’t really a thing in the same way that physical illness and physical disorders aren’t really a thing.

You can see my physical illness. For example, I have had asthma my whole life; Ventolin and Symbicort are my constant companions, along with chronic hayfever that turns into a wheezy cough on the reg. No one questions whether I’m faking asthma or tells me to just suck it up and get on with breathing easily.

If you’ve got depression, though, you’re just miserable, selfish, and mad, too lazy and self-indulgent to bother cheering up and getting on with life. You’re probably also unreliable, unstable, violent, and generally awful to be around.

A friend of mine recently posted on the ‘book:
I look forward to the day I can call my boss and say “sorry dude (gender neutral), my mental health issues are really flaring up at the mo. Feel so anxious all my concentration is going into not thinking I’m a useless human who everyone thinks is an idiot. Going to spend the day listening to music and annoying my sister and her cat”.

Legitimate health-related reasons you can call your boss and say you’re not coming into work without being discriminated against include:

• Having a cold that prevents you from thinking clearly & is contagious.
• Having a broken bone that prevents you from driving/catching the bus/riding your bike/typing/lifting heavy things/normal physical abilities.
• Having cancer or another disease that prevents you from working either due to the effects of the condition itself or as a result of treatment.
• Pretty much any other physical health issue.

I’m not arguing that nobody has ever been fired as a result of missing work due to the reasons above. It happens, no doubt. Your boss and coworkers might think you’re weak, or faking it, or just a slacker. However, it is fair to say that no one group is, on the basis of health, discriminated against as much as sufferers of mental illness.

We – the societal “We” – just don’t get mental illness yet. Mental health issues across the spectrum are still seen as an anomaly rather than a widespread and diverse reality. Myths about mental illness are pervasive and persistent. According to Western Australia’s Mental Health Commission, some such myths include:

• Mental illness is not widespread
• Those with mental illness are weak
• Mental illness is for life and is not treatable
• People with mental illness choose to remain unwell
• Mental illness is linked to violence
• The mentally ill are all insane and should be institutionalised

Ooookie dokie. Let me tell you all the ways in which you’re so completely wrong.

Look at the list of recognised mental disorders. Are you trying to tell me that, with aaaallllll those different disorders, mental illness is not widespread?

Good one. In fact, one in five people suffer from mental illness or mental disorders at some point. There’s a very, very, very good chance that someone you know has struggled with their mental health at some time, and you had no idea.

Mental illness is associated with weakness because sufferers are perceived as sadsacks that just refuse to cheer up. Supposedly not strong enough or too selfish to crack a smile and get on with life, the mentally ill put their lives at risk because talking about how you feel is a big no-no.

Why do you think so many young men commit suicide? Feelings aren’t “manly”, and talking about them certainly isn’t. (Don’t even get me started on what’s wrong with society’s expectations of masculinity and how it ruins people. That’s a post for another day.)

The taboo nature of the topic means that those who do speak up put themselves at risk of discrimination, but unfortunately the only way that mental illness will become a real thing that people (friends, family, communities, employers, coworkers, etc) recognise as a real thing will be via dialogue. Until then, we suffer in silence or risk being judged.

I have absolutely no doubt that I have been discriminated against in the workplace due to my openness about depression and anxiety. I know that I have missed out on employment opportunities, and that people have perceived me as weak, unstable, miserable, unreliable, and a host of other unpleasant things because they just don’t understand what mental illness entails.

At one point, years ago, I was bad – really bad. I dropped the ball on my work for a semester. I sought help. I got better.

Today I’m pretty good. I’m not perfect. I’m not always happy or enthusiastic and I don’t always have good days (do you?), but I am totally in control of myself the vast majority of the time. Bad days happen, but they don’t bother me to the extent that they once did. Bad weeks happen, and I know why. It’s not that I’m useless or insane or stupid or lazy or anything else; it’s because there’s something in my brain that, at times, makes it difficult to crawl out of my own head. That kind of thing happens to me so rarely these days. At one time I was paralysed by own my anxiety and depression. I physically couldn’t move. Mentally, I found it impossible to see even one day into the future; my perspective was shattered. It took a very, very long time to admit to myself that I couldn’t fix everything on my own.

I’ve written about this before, and I am sure I will write about it again because it’s an issue that I live and breathe every day of my life. It makes me see red when I read about mental health-related discrimination. Depression and anxiety are not conditions that people can see. You can’t see it like you can see a rash or a cold or a broken bone or the effects of chemotherapy. Depression and anxiety manifest in a variety of ways, but often so very privately, and thus the myths and the discrimination persist. Not everyone with mental illness is crazy, or violent, or sad, or wants to kill themselves.

People with mental health issues make excellent doctors, teachers, administrative assistants, lawyers, brickies, surf lifesavers, athletes, sales assistants, engineers, flight attendants, and every other occupation you can possibly imagine. We’re also pretty damn good children, siblings, friends, partners, parents, aunts, grandparents, neighbours, coworkers, bosses, internet friends, and passers-by.

We’re just normal human beings who were strong enough to admit that something was wrong, and to do something about it.