John Burnside Quotes

The problem with the stigma around mental health is really about the stories that we tell ourselves as a society. What is normal? That's just a story that we tell ourselves.

You can't write a story about a mental hospital in the United States without facing the grand example of 'Cuckoo's Nest.'

The sad truth is that millions of people with mental illness suffer stigma and prejudice, especially at work.

There are lots of people with mental health disabilities, and that's just the way their life is; it's not like you see it in the movies.

People accuse me of glamorizing mental illness. Looking back sometimes, that's true. But I don't feel guilty.

Once you're labeled as mentally ill, and that's in your medical notes, then anything you say can be discounted as an artefact of your mental illness.

If you say you've had a nervous breakdown or things aren't right mentally, people run away from you. They think you're from 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest,' you know.

I'm either mentally ill or Jewish. I can't sometimes tell the difference.

I want to show that the dividing lines between sanity and mental illness have been drawn in the wrong place.

People take the mickey out of mental health, but it is very delicate.

I can understand why some people might look at me and say, 'What's she got to be depressed about?' I get that a lot in Britain, where mental health issues seem to be a big taboo.

People with mental health problems are almost never dangerous. In fact, they are more likely to be the victims than the perpetrators. At the same time, mental illness has been the common denominator in one act of mass violence after another.

The only reason I've shared my story is to take that tiny baby step of breaking down the stigma attached to depression.

There are so many cliches associated with mental health - such as the 'fine line between lunacy and genius' - which are, on the whole, a load of rubbish.

We recognize incidents of metal illness, and at the same time we stigmatize people who suffer from it or seek help to deal with it.

When I was suffering with depression, people weren't talking about depression. It had a stigma.

It's been taboo for so long to admit you had a mental health problem.

A very tiny percentage of people with mental illness are also violent. We know this. The constant linking of the two together in national media is so misleading.

Mental health, although being talked about more and more nowadays, is still extremely misunderstood and stigmatized, especially in Pakistan, where people think ignoring or hiding the issue will make it go away.

We need to treat people with mental illness like people.

Time to Talk is all about tackling taboos and getting the nation talking about mental health.

There's such a stigma around mental illness, and this idea that you're going to come off as disturbed or weak somehow by being open about these things. I've never felt embarrassed or shy talking about it; it's such an integral part of my life.

There are people with much bigger profiles than mine who are talking about mental illness. I am going to try to use whatever platform I have, whatever voice I have to help eliminate the stigma.

We need to do more to raise awareness of perinatal mental health illness and address the stigma that still surrounds it in our society.

The most evil and insidious thing about mental illness is that it isolates us and makes us feel so different that we think no one can possibly relate.