Mental Illness is Not a Halloween Costume

Happy Halloween! As millions around the country get ready to put on their costumes, we want to give our annual reminder that mental illness is not a costume.

Many with mental illness feel they must wear a mask to cover up their struggles because there is still such a strong stigma surrounding mental health challenges. And when some fail, they find themselves involuntarily in the hospital. Yet misguided devices of past asylums, things like straitjackets for example, continue to find their way into Halloween costumes year after year.

Unlike Halloween costumes, the challenges of mental illness are not a choice, nor are they a joke. They are serious medical conditions. Rarely do you see anyone insensitive enough to dress up as someone with a broken leg or worse someone with cancer. Society wouldn’t find that acceptable, so why does it find it acceptable to do so with mental illness? The answer lies in the stigma that still exists.

You can do your part to end that stigma by not choosing a costume that involves mental illness references. You can do your part to end stigma by having a conversation with those you know who do choose to wear such costumes. And maybe together, we can get Halloween away from the stigma of mental illness once and for all.