Sinaloa.- “The recent statements by the Sinaloa deputy, Serapio Vargas Ramireztaken up by numerous local and regional media, in relation to the schizophrenia contribute to prejudice and stigma about this psychosocial condition and about the people who suffer from it.
It is common among politicians (even among journalists) to give the term schizophrenia a negative connotation and contempt; with this, it disrespects those of us who live with this disease.
People who hold political or government positions or of any kind, would help a lot if they avoided using the term “schizophrenic” —or other similar terms such as “bipolar” and “depressive”—, among others, in a pejorative way.
In Mexico, 10 percent of the population (that is, 13 million Mexican men and women) suffer from a psychosocial condition. For this reason, it would be laudable that in our daily lives, and in the social and political spheres, we modify our perception of mental illness.
Statements such as those of Deputy Vargas Ramírez generate negative ideas towards people with mental health problems: they further promote the stigma of seeing us as unacceptable, inferior or dangerous.
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And even more: they encourage acts of exclusion and discrimination, which by themselves are already forms of violence. Waiting for mental health to be seen in another way, that is the purpose of these lines.”
Sincerely, German Mendez Lugo
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