Partygoers this Halloween in Sheffield may be perpetuating serious stigmas surrounding mental health with their choice of costume.
Beth Wiliams, who has been suffering with depression for five years, said revellers in Sheffield should stay away from costumes that make light of mental health problems.
Miss Williams, from Killamarsh, Sheffield, said: “People have a choice to dress up and trivialise an illness that kills so many people, and puts people through so much, but those of us with mental health problems don’t have a choice.
“Portraying these illnesses as ‘sexy’ and ‘fun’ only contributes to a stigma that costumes like these and the media perpetrate.”
Costumes such as straight jackets, asylum escaper and drug addicts have been seen on West Street in recent years, but makes fake assumptions and accusations about people with mental illnesses.
The 35-year-old who suffers with depression said: “The stigma around mental health is bad enough without costumes like these and I think we as a country should be doing more to move away from stigma and discrimination.”
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, said on their website: “These costumes only serve to reinforce prejudice and misconceptions of mental illness.”
This leaves those already struggling with mental health feeling lonely and excluded when these costumes are released.”