Remarkable Photos Document One Man’s Journey With Mental Illness [HuffingtonPost.com]

Samantha Sangenito 8/4/164:00 AM

Tsoku Maela is not used to the spotlight. But ever since he began sharing images of his “Abstract Peaces” series ― a collection of surreal self-portraits that represent his ongoing experience with depression and anxiety ― he’s begun to think about what it means to raise awareness of himself and the countless other people who struggle with mental illness.

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Maela started producing his self-portraits back in 2014, after experiencing a “perplexing medical emergency” that consisted of unexplained chest pain requiring hospitalization. He says the five days he spent in the hospital, undergoing tests and contemplating his mortality, inspired him to pick up a camera and document his journey looking inward through art. The resulting images translate feelings of hopelessness and fear into abstract scenes involving sharks, smoke and cracks in the wall.

[For more of this story, written by Katherine Brooks, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...b78be4b0e2e15eb7377c]

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Corinna WestMember

This article might be retitled, "Photos document one man's journey with the disease model of mental illness." Notice how all the photos focus on the head being the problem? Well, this ACES connection forum supposedly says, "society / trauma is the problem."

Hey, there's more ways to look at mental health stuff as "illness." There is a social lens, peer support, resilience, or trauma lenses that explain emotional distress better and more scientifically. The vast majority of the public does not view emotional distress as an illness, and those who do see it as an illness are more judgemental.

How many times can I copy and paste this comment in regard to "stigma reduction," campaigns? Why promote activists who disregard all the research on stigma and go on random campaigns that are doing more harm than good (according to the science)? Again, our community really does care about this, stigma-promotion stuff is a huge part of the problem. Even artists who have cool pictures can still reinforce the wrong interpretation of the problem. Let's be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Our community really does care about this. http://www.madinamerica.com/20...-2-anti-anti-stigma/

Blog and forum editors on this site would also be wise to avoid anything that uses the word stigma. Stigma comes from the illness labels. Fighting stigma by re-inforcing mental health labels doesn't work. Promoting resilience by fighting stigma, er....not so much.

Blog and forum editors on this site would also be wise to avoid HuffPo stuff if you want accurate or effective mental health information. If we are promoting resilience and trauma-informed stuff, why promote disease mongering? Our community just had 150 protesters in front of the Boston globe offices for the same problem. We really do care about this. http://www.madinamerica.com/20.../globe-didnt-listen/

I heard from the ACES connection community leaders, "We promote stuff regardless of quality so people can see what is out there, both good and bad," but hey, if it's all bad, why bother? If you are reinforcing the problem instead of promoting the solution, why???

Can we please avoid further HuffPO posts and further stigma related posts? Let's look for high quality journalism, not bad journalism. Let's look for accurate solutions for our community. Let's not repeat over and over the stuff that has been proven not to work. There is only so much work I can do to correct misinformation with accurate science.

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