The key to removing the stigma surrounding mental illness can be summarized in one word — empathy.

“If I could inspire a little bit of empathy toward this issue, my work is complete,” said Delany Ruston, a physician and filmmaker from Seattle.

Ruston says that global mental illness is not very different from the mental illness that is around us in the US. The woman we avoid at the bus stop, the man muttering to himself on the sidewalk; these people are often hidden from view, not only because we choose not to see them but also because they are tucked away by society.

This trend isn’t bound by physical obstacles like oceans and armed guards at countries’ borders. The stigma continues throughout the world even despite cultural differences.

A free screening of Ruston’s film Hidden Pictures was held Friday, April 4 as part of the 11th annual Western Regional International Health Conference. The documentary, which will be appearing on PBS in May, exposes the lives of five people who struggle with mental illness and their families.

A common denominator in each of their lives is shame. Because mental illness is often misunderstood or feared, the people in the film are seen hiding their family members from the world, closing them off from any other human interaction. In some cases, the individuals with mental illness are even shrouded from other family members.

Ruston grew up with a father who had paranoid schizophrenia. Her previous film, Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia, documented her father’s struggle and her journey to reconnect with him after ten years of separation.

Her second documentary brings the disparity of mental health care around the world into view. Ruston states in the film that over 450 million people worldwide have some type of mental illness. But, in some cities, treatment and resources are sparse.

In the film, one woman from Seattle who is helping someone affected by mental illness by letting him live with her compared the mental illness stigma to stray dogs. She said that if a dog were homeless for ten years, someone would have helped that dog by feeding it and taking care of it. But, if a homeless person with a mental illness is on the street for ten years, it’s not often that they will receive any help.

Photo: Rebecca Gourley

Ruston hopes that in the future, the stigma will be broken through education.

Through the making of the film, she discovers a class in a middle school that is learning about mental illness. Several of the students in the class said they were more empathetic because of the lessons taught in the class. This, Ruston said, is a good starting point.

“To start to change a situation, we have to know about it,” Ruston said in an interview. “Before [doing this film], I didn’t know a thing about global mental health.”

This is a blog post by Rebecca Gourley from the 11th Annual Western Regional International Health Conference, held at UW April 4-6, 2014. Rebecca Gourley will graduate in June from UW with a degree in journalism. She hopes to foster social change through writing and photography.