Driving into downtown Hartford on I-84 East, you have probably seen a bizarre billboard with the word “psycho” on it.
The billboard actually shows the word on a piece of paper being torn in half.
It’s a sign of things to come in a mental health awareness campaign by the Institute Of Living at Hartford Hospital.
Other ads will appear in newspapers and magazines, urging people to stop using words like “psycho,” “crazy,” and “insane” to describe people.
The words, Hartford Hospital’s chief psychiatrist said, encourages a stigma.
“These words stand in the way of treating individuals who may happen to have a mental illness,” Dr. Hank Schwartz, Hartford Hospital Behavioral Health Vice President, said.
The campaign culminates with the Black And Red Gala, to be held January 25, as a fundraiser for mental health programs.