The Arraztalo and Aldura associations in Oarsoaldea (Gipuzkoa) work with people with mental illness and their relatives. Last December, there were workshops open to citizens in different towns and we participated in one of them, in Trintxerpe. These workshops were not conducted by experts, psychologists, doctors or social workers, as usual. They gave the floor to those who live close to the situation or are interested in it. “We wanted to break the roles of the speaker and the listener, with the goal of sitting in a circle and talking together. In a horizontal way, we wanted face-to-face conversations, prioritizing attention to people with mental illness, always being clear that each one of us has an obligation in our setting”, explained the members of these associations.

The organizers of the workshop look beyond the field of health, as they are clear that there must be an impact on society. In this regard, gaps are being found and data are being collected. They say that much work remains to be done, for example, to strengthen ties with others.

Who is the responsibility for?

The workshop promoters affirm that the prejudices towards these diseases and the people who suffer them hinder the integration process and consider the social approach necessary: “Psychic disease is a social problem. Taking health into account is important, but also the context. We don’t have enough resources to overcome the consequences that these diseases affect the person.”

People with disease, family members, doctors, social workers, politicians and citizens have participated in the workshops of Arraztalo and Aldura, in which a total of 91 people have participated. However, and even though it was expected to happen earlier, not a quarter of the politicians to whom they were invited went to the appointment: “They’ve been the most obvious vacuum. They may find it difficult to think and face a reality. Our goal is to work together, not to beg,” they say: “What policies will we do if we do not know the beneficiaries of these policies? Today we don’t have internalized that these diseases can be overcome, and therefore we have superficial policies.” As an example, they have reported that there are almost 2,000 who go to the mental health center of Errenteria and that there are only three psychiatrists to serve them.

We have been told that different actors are involved, Osakidetza works in the field of health, Deputies and municipalities deal with social policies, associations present plans, private companies offer offices and jobs... “But if we don’t throw in the same direction, we have a party,” they complain.

“Being a problem that affects society as a whole, it cannot respond to the entire health system,” they say: “Once the most serious phases of the disease have passed, when the psychiatrist discharges him, this person has to start from scratch with the sequelae that the disease has left: isolation, despair, paralysis of the life project, unemployment, difficulty to maintain care, etc. Who is willing to respond to this?”

In the responses, the members of both associations miss this recognition. There are medicines and more and more cognitive therapies, but the fields of work and social integration are limited. They think that all this should be managed by Lanbide, suggesting that the offer they make is scarce. In fact, in Gipuzkoa most people with mental illness are unemployed or unemployed.

First of all, the adoption of

At first we were able to read brief testimonies on the walls of the class where the workshop was held. All of them were anonymous, pronounced by people suffering from the disease: “I still have a hard time putting myself in front of the mirror.” “With stigma, you do us a lot of damage, because you make us think we are less. So too do we despise ourselves.” “First you have to accept the disease and then take steps. If society does not accept it, it is more difficult to take the first step.” “People are afraid of us, they think that we are violent, that we cannot be with us, that we are special, crazy. But we are normal people.”

“We all know that there is this problem,” they explain, “but to face it in all its dimensions we have to do collective work.” Family, health, work and leisure are the themes they have mentioned. “But who cares about it?”

At the workshop in Trintxerpe (Pasaia) we met about fifteen people. Most of them live with the disease on their skin or close relatives. We, on the contrary, were characterized by prejudice and ignorance. We talk about this ignorance, about shame, about stigma, about judgments and about fear, among others. Since we did not find words to describe the disease itself, we described it with colors, such as the metaphors used by those affected. Black, because evil is dark; gray, because it is oriented towards clarity; violet, because it is strong; green, to reflect hope... And we, the white, symbol of ignorance. In any case, we realized that we know more about the subject than we think.

To feed self-esteem

In short, we have realized that not understanding, seeing or accepting as a disease makes it invisible. “Not even Geron knows if we’re talking about illness, disorder, or what,” the members of the associations say: “Much remains to be done: talking to doctors and other family members, getting informed, approaching the person who has the disease and giving a collective response.”

In the past, Down syndrome was a mixture of shame and marginalization that is slowly being assumed among those around it. The associations hope that the stigma generated by mental illness will gradually fade away. They are constantly judged, pointed out, hidden and rejected by society. “They are able to do more than they think. Many times one of the keys is the development of self-esteem, which grows like this,” they say. “Let us not be accomplices.”

On the other hand, the members of the associations consider it "dangerous" to start talking about the origins of psychic diseases. “Reference is made to genetics and the environment.” Some disease will develop or explain according to different realities, moments and people. Those that each one will live in one way or another.

We have been told that there are more and more patients, although many of them do not treat them as ill, because we think the reason for their behavior is different. They have also indicated that depression and other such diseases are being "normalized". “Like physical health, we must take care of mental health, develop resources to face the difficulties of life and strengthen ourselves. It’s hard because everyone has to make that thought.”

In addition, they have implied that the social model covers all this: age planning, pressures, stress, work rhythms, responsibilities, lack of life projects, competitiveness, tensions, the assumption that we leave the default path, etc.

To some extent, the people who lived in the workshop have led us to think that society itself makes us sick. We break prejudices, broaden our point of view and seek out what our areas of work are and what our obligations are. As we know, the rainbow is made up of rain and sun at once.