Debate contribution: Mental Illness: Reducing Stigma

Debate contribution by Mrs Diane Dodds on 21 January 2025.

MLA: Mrs Diane Dodds
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 21 January 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Mental Illness: Reducing Stigma
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4749693

Text

I thank those who tabled the motion, and I thank those Members who have spoken for the tone that they have used and the issues that have been raised in the debate. It is good to see the Assembly united and speaking with one voice about the stigma with mental health difficulties. In my few remarks, I want to focus on the word "stigma". In preparing for the debate, I looked it up to see what it means. The definition that I looked at describes "stigma" as:
"a mark, a stain or a blemish."
Sadly, that definition, too often, prevents those who have mental health difficulties from asking for help and leads to them feeling completely distressed and alone. People view mental health in different ways. We have talked about the kind of inadvertent stigma that people who have a mental illness can face, but it can also contribute to how they feel at work. People are worried about their chances of promotion, or how it will impact on their work, if they say anything about it. In social situations, they fear that they will be treated differently. Colin talked about past attitudes to mental health. When I was younger, many people whom I knew, particularly women, were told, "Snap out of it. It just happens. Get on with it". I am glad that, now, we recognise the persistent difficulties, particularly experienced by women in menopause and in that period of their lives, with mental health and anxiety. That is really important. I think that we have three types of stigma: public stigma, which involves the attitudes of others at work and out and about in social situations; self-stigma, through the internalising of stigma within one's own self, the feeling of shame and not being good enough and so on; and structural stigma, which is systemic in the like of government and organisations' policies. That is where the mental health strategy comes in. I know and acknowledge that the Minister has done an enormous amount to promote mental health during his time as an MLA. Campaigns that tell people that it is OK not to feel OK are really important. When I was reading around the issue, I found a quote that was incredibly instructive about how we deal with mental health, particularly in the public space. The quote was from Charlene Sunkel, the founder of the Global Mental Health Peer Network and co-chair of 'The Lancet Commission on Ending Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health'. She said:
"I live with schizophrenia. It is amazing how people react the moment they just hear the word – they immediately ... step backwards ... They are afraid of you because of this whole false perception that we are dangerous, we are unable to think, unable to work – that we are basically useless."
That is someone who is a leader in her field in mental health, talking about attitudes towards mental health and stigma. We must erase those attitudes. It is really important. A number of Members referred to different sectors and their impact on the relief of mental health issues and their associated stigma. Let us also commend the voluntary and community sector. So many of our groups work at a community level, day in, day out, with those who suffer from mental health issues and fear the stigma that is associated with that. Robbie Butler mentioned the Prison Service. We also must acknowledge the difficulties with mental health that are associated with serving in the public sector. Staff in the ambulance service and PSNI officers — people who see —
— very difficult things. The debate has been good, and I commend the Members who tabled the motion.

618 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.

Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
No identity-based framing was identified (0.98).
Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.

This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.

Jev’s structured answers

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.05	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.02	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.02	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.02	No
Controversy escalation	0.03	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.47	No
Overall judgement	0.03	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	0.98
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.02
Adopts it	0.00

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits	1.00
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00
Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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