Mental illness awareness has grown exponentially since it was first discovered. In the 1800s to the early 1900s, mental illness was not represented or thought about in a positive manner. In the past, oftentimes mentally ill people were classified as insane, crazy, criminal—in short, inhuman. Due to these labels given from society, the mentally ill were either tortured, killed, imprisoned or ignored. As time has gone on, the acceptance and awareness of mental illnesses has grown and is more common. However, mental illness is not fully treated appropriately in society. In physical illnesses such as strep throat, there is an optimal treatment method, but illnesses of the mental state are not as easily curable. However, it is important that mental illnesses are treated as seriously as other illnesses.

The case of schizophrenic teenager Keith Vidal illustrates just how differently mentally ill patients are treated from other patients. Vidal was an eighteen-year-old boy who lived with his loving family in Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina; his life was taken away from him because he acted in a certain way that the police were not comfortable with. Vidal had an ongoing illness starting with depression in 2012 when he was sixteen years old. His mother saw him feeling very down after his breakup with his girlfriend, and she thought this was a typical teen feeling—but it kept becoming worse day by day. At eighteen years old, Vidal was diagnosed by his doctors with schizophrenia. One night, his parents knew something was wrong because he was not acting like himself. They assumed that they could rely on the police because of similar situations that happened before. But this time was different because a police officer ultimately killed Vidal.

The mentally ill are ordinary people who go through the struggles of life just like everyone else in society, yet they are not always treated with the same sympathy and respect. Even though they may look or act a certain way doesn’t mean that they should be treated differently, even if they require support to live independently. Researchers Urun Ozer et al. write, “Individuals with mental illnesses have been reported to be one of the most vulnerable groups for stigmatization....It has been reported that individuals with mental illnesses are seen by the society as dangerous, frightening, unstable, irresponsible, unpredictable, and having communication problems” (225). People who are uneducated on the true nature of mental illness may immediately default to negative stereotypes of mental illnesses. In television and movies, people who are mentally ill are often portrayed as dangers to society who are very unpredictable. If the only knowledge people have about mental illnesses is that which is described in movies, they may base their perceptions of mental illness more on fiction than reality. 

The Vidal incident made headlines. News reporter Alissa Roth explained that although Vidal was “calm” when the first officer arrived at the scene, that officer called for support:

 Bryon Vassey, an officer from the neighboring Southport Police Department, showed up...He’d been on the Southport police force for 11 years. “I don’t have time for this shit,” Mary Wilsey [Vidal’s mother] heard him say as he came in. Two EMTs later testified that Vassey had announced, “I’m here to kick ass and take names”....Seconds later, Vassey pulled out his gun and shot the boy in the chest. The EMTs rushed him to the local hospital, where he was declared dead.

In those few seconds, the Vidal family’s life turned upside down; their son had just been shot by the police in order to stop the problem rather than get further help. If Vidal was helped and given the resources to get him through his illness, he would not have been killed due to the ignorance of police action. 

*If you find yourself struggling and need help in time of crisis, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or 440-285-5665 the Geauga County Copeline.