I used to think that we had come a long way in our treatment and understanding of people with a mental illness but today I am not so sure. I was visiting a friend this afternoon in the mental health ward at Alice Springs hospital. On the door it says that all patients, staff and visitors must be treated with dignity and respect however it seems a few of the staff members have failed to read the sign. My friend is being treated with complete disregard for her dignity. She was dragged into a locked ward, and she has the bruises to prove it, because she got a little angry because she was being patronised and treated like a child. Now, they have drugged her up so much with medications (for an illness that she doesn’t even have) that she can’t think or even speak properly. I was reminded of a poem that another friend wrote about how people with mental illness are not allowed to experience the normal human emotions. If they are sad, they are depressed, if they are angry, they might get violent, if they are confused they are psychotic. It’s not fair. My friend has truly suffered enough and she has come out the most gentle and kind person yet she is being treated as if she is a danger.