My Response to Asda's 'Mental Patient' Costume

A measly 140 characters was nowhere near enough for me to express my anger and disgust at THIS 'mental patient' Halloween costume, hence this blog post.

Bad taste - picture posted with deep reluctance in order for you to establish exactly what I'm so angry about

Ummm...so....do you have any 'cancer patient' costumes lying around in your stockrooms? Or even a geriatric costume? Or an paraplegic costume?  Didn't think you did!

Since when is it okay to imply that people with mental health issues are frightening, carry dangerous weapons, villainous and a threat to society? Since when is it okay to consider this extremely tasteless costume - consisting of a disheveled strait jacket splattered with fake blood, accessorized with a meat cleaver and grotesque face paint - as what a person suffering from a mental illness looks like and then allow them to be laughed at, pointed at and ridiculed like some sort of circus freak or caricature? Never. Ever. Not okay at all. The truth is, mocking someone suffering from a mental illness, whether it is depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, is a form of vile playground bullying and is extremely ignorant and insulting. One in four people do not look like the picture above. We don't carry weapons, we are not covered in blood, we

The product description also read: "Everyone will be running away from you in fear in this mental patient fancy dress costume... it's a terrifying Halloween option."

Why would we want to run away from people affected by a mental illness, whether wealthy or destitute, young or old, educated or non-educated, who are extremely vulnerable and are in need of support and help? Why would we just abandon them and let them suffer alone? Knowing that there are people around who struggle to understand the pain and anguish and interpret mental illnesses as a form of attention-seeking or having a childish tantrum is a terrifying and lonely experience itself and it is only made even more lonely and terrifying with having to face the vacuous judgments of people who have never been afflicted with the illness.

Asda are an insufferable bunch of people by taking mental illnesses for some kind of a joke. What is also so disgusting about this is that it reinforces the negative stereotypes and stigma of mental illnesses, something that has become an epidemic and force millions of people to take their own lives and that is no laughing matter.

Let's hope we never see this listed on any online retailer ever again!