https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v Please click on the pink plus sign at the bottom right corner of the Padlet to post your thoughts. Please type your name first and then your comment. en-us 2018-05-04 14:18:03 UTC 2018-05-16 16:05:51 UTC hello@padlet.com lucianjm18 https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/260479870 I believe that society typically treats mental illness very differently than physical illness. Mental illness can be viewed as a weakness, or shortcoming where physical illness tends to receive better treatment and more empathy. Even certain insurance companies have been found to dismiss certain claims of mental illness due to a lack of physical evidence. The Willow Brook video is incredibly sad, and it is a shameful piece of our country's history. I consider Willow Brook to be inhumane, and an absolute abomination in terms of treatment for mental illness. 

]]> 2018-05-14 14:15:53 UTC https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/260479870 carlamilliron https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/260811268 Unfortunately, I think that society fears mental illness. I often hear people say that individuals with mental illness are scary or that they are dangerous. I also hear often that people with mental illness are only acting the way they do or saying the things they say because they want attention. It's painful to say that even in the schools that I work in, I hear comments such as these from teachers and administration. I've also heard comments like this from school counselors. As Jacquelyn said, it is treated much differently than physical illness. Just because we cannot see the mental illness does not mean that it does not exist. I always use the analogy that if you break your arm, you go straight to the dr to get it fixed, so why when our brains have a chemical imbalance do we ignore it and hope it will go away? The video on Willow Brook was heartbreaking. No one should be treated in such a way. However, I can understand that mental illness was even less understood back then than it is now. That certainly doesn't make it ok, but I am able to understand that they did not know how to treat individuals who had mental illness and unfortunately Willow Brook is the outcome of that. ]]> 2018-05-15 12:17:11 UTC https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/260811268 kszyst https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/261037756 I too agree that society treats mental illness in a very negative stereotypical manner. Unfortunately major decisions have been left entirely up to politicians instead of a collaboration between mental health professionals, families and advocates of the mentally ill. Fear and lack of information contribute to the out of site out of mind policy and that still plagues the system today. The recent events here in Buffalo trying to get rid of the children's psychiatric center and combining it with the adult center and leaving no other options for children is a clear example of this continuing to a degree today.

The video is so incredibly sad and as a society we need to to more to study mental illness just like any other medical illness. The first step is to gain the basic understanding of mental illness, informing the public and breaking down the stigma related to mental illness so that the proper treatment plan can be implemented for each individual. No more can it be an excuse that we just do not understand what mental illness is. Appropriate treatment centers do need to exist with the patient being the highest priority, not political agenda or fear. Today we may not have these large scale facilities but I would argue that the prison system today has become a very inappropriate way to manage mental illness, again out of site out of mind.]]> 2018-05-15 23:14:02 UTC https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/261037756 pkenniston13 https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/261263851 The first time I watched this video almost 22 years ago I was shocked, nauseated, and nearly in tears. Viewing it again now was no less shocking while making me ask how children could be treated in such a way by the people that were charged with caring for them.
As others have noted, the lack of visible or physical signs of mental illness may be part of why there is such stigma surrounding it. Likewise, movies and TV continue to perpetuate stereotypes and wrongful images and perceptions of mental illness such as scraggly, dirty, out-of-control, or "babbling" incoherently. Although there are some PSAs that refer to the chemical imbalance of mental illness, we need to do more to have open, honest discussions about mental illness. Maybe we can start by renaming it so it is less pejorative? 

]]> 2018-05-16 15:36:37 UTC https://padlet.com/sbusbu/unxlj0925h7v/wish/261263851