With all the awareness of mental health, why is psychotic illness never really mentioned?

People like mental health problems that can be “fixed” by therapy, “just go to therapy” seems to be the solution to everything.

My dad had psychotic episodes and was hospitalised several times, people were surprised that he didn’t get therapy. No it’s lifelong serious psychiatric medication!

It really isn’t though. It might seem to be because as OP said some celebrities like Stephen Fry have been open about having it.
But in day to day life it is not accepted.

Because of my bipolar disorder, people have often made assumptions about me that aren’t true. Socially, I’ve been treated differently once people know, with some seeing me as unpredictable or difficult, which has led to being left out or not taken seriously.

At work, I’ve experienced people doubting my ability to do my job, watching me more closely than others, or holding back opportunities, not because of my work, but because of their fear or misunderstanding of my condition. At one point occupational health actually told me I wasn’t allowed to work alone.

I’ve also been treated differently by health professionals. At times, my physical symptoms or concerns haven’t been taken seriously and have been put down to my bipolar disorder instead. I’ve felt talked down to, not fully listened to, or assumed to be exaggerating or confused.

I am part of a support group for people living with bipolar and my experience is not uncommon at all

This is probably the case, but I must admit that not that long ago I thought of all mental illness as psychosis and not of something like anxiety or depression or that it might be treatable or curable at all, or that you might need to look after your mental as well as physical health.

Agree with you. The Times writer Sathnam Sanghera wrote about this a while ago. He has a schizophrenic sister and he says the tendency to overmedicalise many normal human conditions- like anxiety in an interview- has meant really ill people get less help.

Whilst I do not have schizophrenia, I learnt a lot about it and the stigma people face on the daily basis. I have hallucinations only when severely low (anxiety related) but they are quite rare now.

I agree with everything you have said. People do think of anxiety and depression when you think of mental health.

I agree OP and I was assaulted by an adult male with PS, I didn’t prosecute under the understanding he was committed for meds supervision but this in itself is the issue. It’s crisis management rather than proactive care, and despite my experience I agree just not enough awareness!

I’m sorry you feel that way.

I do agree with OP though bipolar is more “socially acceptable” even though you have of course not had this experience.

There is a lot of stigma towards severe mental health such as schizophrenia.

I agree with you to a point.

However, it is not true that it’s more acceptable and less stigmatising to have bipolar. I have bipolar, and I am treated terribly by most people who find out about it, even healthcare professionals,

As someone who's Mum had a SMI an refused to seek help, and whole family denied it was happening leaving DF and me to pick up the pieces each and every time I whole heartedly agree with you @NightTerrier

You have been extremely brave to be so open about your own experiences. I am so glad that you sound like you have the right support in place. I have no doubt it was a struggle for you.

Stigma and shame meant as a family unit we never got the support we needed. But not talking about it, didn't stop it from being a reality for all of us. It didn't stop Mum from being ill. It just meant nobody thrived. And yes it was distinctly unglamorous, confusing, distressing, joyous, fun, scary, etc etc all at once. And maybe that is also why people don't talk about it. We all like to reduce things down to easy labels and black and white to help us process the world around us, and SMI is very definitely not any of that.

Sending you lots of 💐 thank you for flagging a very important topic.

We're in a really weird spot with this tbh.

With regards to 'you would go to the doctor with a broken leg, so why be ashamed of going with low mood?' thing, society has kinda swung entirely the other way when it comes to discussion of common mental health problems. To the extent now that there are a lot of people who falsely equate a down day with depression, nerves before a presentation as an anxiety disorder, liking things neat as OCD, struggling emotionally with a difficult event as PTSD, and so forth. It's really concerning honestly, and I usually am not keen on the word 'resilience'. But there is an argument that younger folk especially are over-medicalising normal human life experiences, contextualising them as a disorder. And the most concerning part to me has been speaking about depression and anxiety disorders as though they are a permanent unchangeable thing. Rather than an illness that can be treated. Like self-identifying as someone 'with anxiety' and then pushing forward with life trying to accommodate the anxiety at every turn.

We know that work can contribute positively to mental health, avoidance can make anxiety words, and reducing activity can fuel depression. There seems to be a sense that if you experience depression/anxiety you should retreat from the world, indefinitely, because this is now you forever, and there's nothing you can, or should be expected to do about it.

On the other side, SMI is distinctly unglamorous and is therefore still very much stigmatised. It doesn't neatly fit the model of 'you can help your friend with this by asking 'how are you?' at the pub', people largely feel comfortable talking to a friend who is worrying excessively than a person who is psychotic. Which is understandable! But I've seen a surge of people thinking that mental health problems are JUST anxiety disorders and depression, while refusing to acknowledge SMI. It's just not palatable. It makes people frightened and they want to stay away.