Looking for love with a mental illness
A recent social experiment conducted as part of the Time to Change campaign which addresses mental health prejudice’s has found that more people in England (57%) would turn down a date with someone who had a mental health illness than someone they found unattractive (44%) or someone without the same interests (43%).
The study involved seven people with mental illnesses posting ads on dating and flat sharing websites in two stages. At first the participants posted the ads without mentioning their mental health problem and after a few weeks these were removed and replaced with the same profile but with an additional line disclosing the fact they had a mental illness.
When the results of each stage were compared it was found that there was an overall drop of 50% in interest in dating the participants and a 68% drop in interest in sharing a flat with the participants once they had revealed their mental illness.
Additional findings included the fact that those with a mental illness were more likely to be turned down for a second date if they reveal a mental illness (44%) than those who admit to having been in prison (42%), have a physical health problem (19%) or are unemployed (18%).
The aim of the Time to Change experiment was to highlight the challenges, stigma and discrimination that people with mental health problems face when trying to find love or share a flat.
If you would like to find out more about Time to Change then please visit the website where you can make a pledge and watch a video on the social experiment.