Tufton wants to see mindset change towards mental health

Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of health and wellness, wants Jamaicans to have a mindset change towards the need for mental health in society.

Tufton, who was speaking at the adolescent mental health conference media launch on Monday evening at the Liguanea Club, said that it is his hope for mental health to be mainstreamed, noting that a great deal of citizens suffered from mental health challenges without realising it.

He continued that those individuals who had recognised their issues did not want to seek help and, as such, resorted to various forms of inadequate treatment because of a fear of being stigmatised.

Tufton lamented that, in Jamaica, needing or receiving that kind of care was frowned upon, and that citizens loosely used the words ‘crazy’ and ‘mad’ to describe people in need of these health services.

“I would like to see the day when people brag about going to see their shrink like in America. You know, you have some people in America and they say ‘Oh, I cannot bother with today so I’m going to see my shrink right now, my psychiatrist, or my counsellor. I’m going in that long chair to lie down and just pour out my heart’. That’s profound because what it is saying is it is okay to need that kind of support,” he said.

Tufton continued that, if every Jamaican could admit that there was a point in their “mental cycle” and state of mind when they are disturbed, then more persons would come to terms with being comfortable speaking about or “bragging” about their healthy experiences with speaking with their mental health expert.