Celebrities are using their platform to combat stigma and publicize recovery with new energy. Connie Francis, who was involuntarily admitted to psychiatric hospitals 17 times in nine years, is now working with Mental Health America in a continual battle to publicize recovery. "It is now my intention to be a voice for those suffering from mental disorders and to make them aware that there is hope and light at the end of an often bleak and interminable tunnel," she said. Last year Glenn Close was instrumental in bringing public service announcements to focus on the networks of families and caregivers who are deep wells of support for their relatives. She is again on the lecture series with this message.
They are two among the long list of celebrities who are renewing campaigns calling attention to the prevalence of mental illnesses and the battle to reduce stigma. Yet stigma remains a barrier to seeking treatment and social inclusion. At the current meetings of the American Psychiatric Association, the new president Dr. Carol Bernstein noted how the current fragmented system reflects and perpetuates stigma. Bernstein told Medscape Psychiatry, "Right now in our country we have different funding streams for community health, community mental health, for substance abuse, and for child mental health. Our system is fragmented, and we need to bring it together and be working side by side with our medical colleagues to improve patient care."
