[Juniebug]

I get really annoyed with all of the Halloween gimmicks such as haunted asylums and crazy psych patients. I'll be the first person to make fun of myself, and I have a pretty sick, dark sense of humor in general, but it really pisses me off to see this stuff every year. (Actually, it bothers me anytime of year, like when there's another shooting spree or something) Anyone else feel this way about the Halloween stuff?

[(JD)]

It could be because there is SRA which is connected to this time of year...the dark supernatural...and yes, demon possession and all that ...

but no, it doesn't depict all of mental illness.

[Disorder7]

No, I love Halloween and everything that goes with it.
But I can understand your point.

To me it's all just fun. You know, "sometimes I battle my demons, and sometimes we just cuddle." That sort of thing.

[Hellion]

Not really, in fact I find the idea of crazy psych patient to be a great costume idea....might be what I do this year(and I have been in the psych ward) So yeah I don't know that sort of theme doesn't really bother me.

[Juniebug]

I guess people who are ignorant of mental illness are gonna be that way all of the time. No haunted house asylum or costume is gonna bring out any viewpoint that is already imbedded.

[Rose76]

What I've been more inclined to notice is how Halloween seems to denigrate elderly women . . . . . all those portrayals of witches, which emphasize the physical changes that come late in the aging process.



These images impart the impression that being very aged is inherently creepy. (IMHO) (Having no teeth, having a humped spine, etc.)

[Angelique67]

Thanks Rose, that bugs me too, so does the mental patient stuff. Maybe I resemble the extreme too much. Or just feel like I do.

You people should lighten up. Next you're be saying Freddy Krueger is disrespectful to burns victims and Jason is an unfair comparison to those incapable of swimming.

Hannibal Lecter is disrespectful to forensic psychiatrists. Depicting them as cannibalistic serial killers.

Halloween ( the Movie) is suggesting that all bullied troubled children like young Michael Myers will turn out to be mask wearing spree killers.

Leprechaun is disrespectful towards dwarfs and Chucky is an unfair depiction of the doll community. Most dolls would be offended by the idea that they'd come to life being possessed by a murderer, performing magic and stalk young boys.

[Angelique67]

I have that whole old witch posture down!

[Livelonginspired]

Aww, now why would we leave something like witchcraft in the hands of mere children anyway?

Personally, I love Halloween and I always have,
But I don't care for the "crazy mental psych ward patient" costumes. I'm sure they're fun for the people doing them, but for me, they just seem to lack creativity. Plus, they represent people who are just... I don't know, not so much mentally incapable, but people who are just evil. Like, the patients with blood all over them and they act like they're going to kill you and they say creepy things to scare you.

[Rose76]

Actually, "Hannibal Lecter" made a cannibalistic, serial killer seem cool. Anthony Hopkins was never so sexy, as he was portraying Hannibal the Cannibal. I guess that's a great actor . . . . when you can make a monster seem charismatic. Your average psychiatrist would be lucky to have a fraction of that panache.

[Open Eyes]

I don't think children should be including that in their ideas of "monsters". MI individuals are not monsters.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by Open Eyes

I don't think children should be including that in their ideas of "monsters". MI individuals are not monsters.

Yeah well can't say I've never felt like one...

[venusss]

Hmmmm.

Now I am tempted to actually go to some Halloween party and dress as slutty mental patient witch.

[Livelonginspired]

Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to be a sadistic brutal killer for Halloween, then go as a sane, mentally healthy sadistic brutal killer.

[venusss]

you might get shot if you dress like Hitler or Putin.

[hamster-bamster]

I own a black cat. But I do not mind the unfair portrayal of black cats during Halloween. I just keep my cat at home and out of trouble during the season.

[ifst5]

If we're going to be offended by one Halloween costume then why not others? People go as murderers, hobos, dead/diseased/deformed people...

I don't get Halloween generally - I don't see how it sets to distinguish itself from any other fancy dress party.

[MotownJohnny]

I can honestly see both sides of this debate. It is "all in fun" but it also stigmatizes. In this day and age, it's important to be sensitive. No one - at least no one with any morals, IMHO - would go to a Halloween event dressed as, say, in blackface, carrying a watermelon, as was done 100 years ago in Vaudeville to portray African Americans as somehow inferior to whites. It would be extremely tasteless and very hurtful. Same arguement can be made about portraying people with MI as somehow dangerous. But, we also MUST be able to laugh at ourselves at times. So, I'm kinda on the fence on this. Overall, I say err on the side of caution.

[happiedasiy]

That was a good one, made my day.
Thanks

[venusss]

Originally Posted by MotownJohnny

I can honestly see both sides of this debate. It is "all in fun" but it also stigmatizes. In this day and age, it's important to be sensitive. No one - at least no one with any morals, IMHO - would go to a Halloween event dressed as, say, in blackface, carrying a watermelon, as was done 100 years ago in Vaudeville to portray African Americans as somehow inferior to whites. It would be extremely tasteless and very hurtful. Same arguement can be made about portraying people with MI as somehow dangerous. But, we also MUST be able to laugh at ourselves at times. So, I'm kinda on the fence on this. Overall, I say err on the side of caution.

I feel though that all the psychward stereotypes are more aimed at the keyholders, rather than those locked in.

I mean, craziest don't wear straightjackets cause they find them fancy. They are/had been forced into them.

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by MotownJohnny

I can honestly see both sides of this debate. It is "all in fun" but it also stigmatizes. In this day and age, it's important to be sensitive. No one - at least no one with any morals, IMHO - would go to a Halloween event dressed as, say, in blackface, carrying a watermelon, as was done 100 years ago in Vaudeville to portray African Americans as somehow inferior to whites. It would be extremely tasteless and very hurtful. Same arguement can be made about portraying people with MI as somehow dangerous. But, we also MUST be able to laugh at ourselves at times. So, I'm kinda on the fence on this. Overall, I say err on the side of caution.

Well mental illness can be dangeorus, not to say all people with it are dangerous people that need to be locked up...but I know there are symptoms i have that could put me and others at risk, it really sucks but I cannot deny those dangers....like with the PTSD if someone startled me I could potentially injure them before i realize what's happened luckily I am small and petite but I have jumpy reflexes to that I'll either jump like 10 feet or dive/fall on the ground or I go to hit(thus far though I haven't got someone in the face yet or anything) but yeah I could see that startle reflex being problematic in social situations. So yeah IDK I do not think such costumes are usually meant to make accurate portrayals of real psych patients so it never occurred to me as something to take seriously.

[MotownJohnny]

A truly "realistic" portrayal of a psych patient who is locked up inpatient would be a real downer - and not nearly as attention-grabbing as Jason or Freddie or whoever.

[MotownJohnny]

I'm going on Halloween Friday as suit and tie guy -- it's a great costume, I blend right in with the rest of the suit and tie guys running around the town where I work - about 90,000 population and probably about the same influx in office workers each day, it's office park central here.