It is spooky season, which means Halloween is just around the corner! What is there not to love about Halloween? From Trick-or-Treating to fun costumes, it is one of the most popular holidays celebrated globally. Unfortunately, when it comes to Halloween, it is very easy to be offensive when dressing up if not properly educated on certain topics – whether it be culture appropriation, mental health, or more. For our feature today, we are delving into the harmfulness of using mental illnesses as Halloween costumes. Keep reading to learn more about this!
The Harmfulness of Celebrating Halloween Through Mental Illness
Each Halloween season, companies sell costumes such as “psychos” and “mental health patients”, while haunted houses decorate areas with themes like “mental health ward”. These decisions are quite harmful to the public perception and stigma on mental illness.
Society is conditioned to believe that mental illness is to be feared, rather than being seen as a challenge to many in our own communities and families. The idea that disorders make people “monsters” perpetuates this fear of mental illness. With mental illness depicted so darkly, especially within the theme of Halloween, mental illness is reinforced to be a stigma to the sufferer and an embarrassment to those who care about the individual.
Additionally, this is harmful by portraying a character that is uncontrollable or one that cannot function within our world. These decisions drag out the stigma of mental illness and one that makes it seem as though someone with a mental illness cannot live a fulfilling life among others.
Triggering Individuals Through Your Costume
Not only is dressing up as a mental asylum patient or a “psychopath” contributing to the stigma and the umbrella factors mentioned above, but the act of doing so could, in fact, potentially be triggering to someone at a party, gathering, or even a loved one!
This Halloween, be mindful of those around you, of society, and of the stigma surrounding mental health and mental illnesses. We, at Aware, wish you a very happy Halloween!