Shortly after the release of the Federal Government's new advertising campaign about the methamphetamine ice, StigmaWatch was inundated with reports.
The advertisements, which screened on national television and online, show a young man being brought into an emergency ward by police. As a voice over says, 'people suffering psychotic reactions, it's terrible for them and the people around them', the young man head-butts a staff member and throws a chair at a window.
StigmaWatchers who have been affected by mental illness, particuarly psychotic mental illnesses, were distressed by the government's portrayal of psychosis.
As one StigmaWatcher put it, 'This sets an unfortunate, sad and untrue reference and stereotype that psychosis leads to violence.'
SANE Speaker, Cameron, expressed the same dismay to Fairfax reporter Clare Kermond.
'It might be terrifying for me and for my family, but they're not afraid for themselves, they're afraid for me.' He said people experiencing a psychotic episode were far more likely to be a danger to themselves.
StigmaWatch sometimes responds to reports by working with journalists who report on mental illness, connecting them to experts in the field, to spread factual information.
In this case, Professor Dan Lubman, Director of Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, who said ice users were also stigmatized by the ad.
'We know that 75 per cent of these people fully recover, we just don't see them because it's so stigmatised.'
Read Kermond's full article- Cold response to ice ads backfire in the Sydney Morning Herald.