In 2013, both Asda and Tesco famously withdrew halloween costumes which depicted those suffering from a mental health problem as violent and 'crazy' - Asda's came with a fake meat cleaver and Tesco's with a machete. There's also been the glorification of eating disorders with the 'Anna Rexia' outfit which made light of a serious mental illness which; in extreme cases lead to the person living with it - dying.
A paper published by the World Psychiatric Association in 2003 found that in actual fact that only around 3% of violent crimes are committed by those with a mental illness such as depression and schizophrenia and seperate findings have found that those with a mental illness are around 10 times more likely to be the victim of a violent attack than someone who doesn't have a mental health problem - going against the idea that people with a diagnosis are violent.
With the media quick to jump to the conclusion that murders or any sort of violent could be due to a person having poor mental health, it's no suprise to hear that the widely accepted statistic is that 9 out 10 people with a mental illness are treated negatively in light of them disclosing that they've been diagnosed with any form of disorder.
Do you feel as though 'mental health patient' halloween costumes contribute to the stigma people face on a daily basis? What do you think about the media being quick to link violence to a person's possible mental health problems?