Malloy To Mayors: De-Stigmatize Mental Health Treatment The Way We’ve De-Stigmatized Violence

In a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Saturday morning, Gov. Malloy continued to push for changes in both policy and public approach to gun control and mental health, arguing that a wide range of steps must be taken to prevent a tragedy like the one at Sandy Hook from occurring again. Among other suggestions, Malloy called for a society that de-stigmatizes mental health treatment in the same way it has de-stigmatized violence.

Malloy argued that while many people need some form of mental health treatment at some point in their lives, a stigma exists and “people will avoid seeking treatment to avoid being stigmatized.” Violence, on the other hand, he said, has been “effectively de-stigmatized.” He mentioned movie theaters and other forms of media that cause consumers to relive violence “as one man did in Connecticut in the case of violent games for hours and hours on end every day.”

“On the day that Newtown happened there were games available that allowed people to go into schools in a game and shoot them up,” said Malloy. “If we spent as much time on de-stigmatizing mental health treatment as we do in the proliferation of these games that are de-stigmatizing violence we as a society would make leaps forward.”