Another year, another Halloween costume blunder.

Another Halloween is fast approaching and yet again we have the same story. Supermarkets selling 'Mental patient' costumes. 

For some reason around Halloween it seems as if all things that are deemed inappropriate (sexy nurse outfit out on the town) or offensive are suddenly acceptable. 

One thing we do have to be greatful for though is the fact that due to media attention and the fact that more people are talking about mental health problems, shops are cottening on to this and sales for this type of costume are now almost non existant. Almost. 

I quick google search brings up just a handful of 'mental patient' costumes, people in straight jackets and some with masks on. This portail of mental health sim ply isnt correct and thank god for campaigns such as #endthestigma #semicolonproject and #medicatedandmighty and the tireless efforts of mental health charities are are showing that mental health isnt anything to be ashamed about and definately isnt what is portraid in these costumes. 

Infact a recent article in the Telegraph hit the nail on the head with how people should dress if they want to portray people with mental health issues. 

They say if you want to dress like someone with depression, just wear your normal clothes. If you want to dress with someone with schizophrenia, just wear your normal clothes, if you want to dress like someone with addiction, just wear your normal clothes. And so the list goes on all with the same response. It is said that 1 in 4 people will be diagnosed with a mental health condition at some point in their life. This is a huge amount of the population so to marginialise that group and stereotype them simply isnt okay. 

The vast majority of people with mental health issues do actually socialise. They have friends and family, normal lives and everything. But the Halloween costumes based on mental illness have never bothered with the subtle aspects, opting instead to go for the extremes.

Infact the reality of wearing a 'costume' which more realisticly portrays someone with mental health issue may not seem that funny at all.