If you’ve been following the Thorpe Park ‘Asylum’ debacle, this open letter from the Royal College of Psychiatrists may help illuminate the problem. Thorpe Park has, all along, been asked to change, not to close, its ill-advised attraction; so far with no response other than bland platitudes. One hopes this latest reasoned request will finally get through to them. http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases2013/openlettertothorpepark.aspx

For catch-up, much of the debate can be found here where onward links further fill out the debate. The twitter thread, #AsylumNO, has attracted considerable support and inevitably its detractors. Some of these I have found to be reasonable people who, after many exchanges, have become less entrenched in their view that Thorpe Park’s portrayal of ‘mental patients’ may not be harmful. Some though, have been quite astonishing in their capacity to extrapolate beyond the ridiculous, and others have been hateful, offensive, unreasoned attackers. I personally had several exchanges with a person who eventually claimed to be the designer of the ‘rape fantasy experience’ at The Scare Kingdom Scream Park in Lancashire. He told me that the Daily Mail had mis-reported, something I am disposed to accept, and said they had many complimentary comments. I asked him to tell me what the experience really was and to point me towards those comments, so that I could pass this along – I’m no more interested in unjustified entertainment-bashing than I am in letting truly horrific and harmful material go by unchallenged – but he chose instead to revert to attacking the objectors.

The RCP open letter is the most recent, and arguably the most high profile, response to Thorpe Park, and one hopes the company will finally be listening.

Supporters of  the ‘Asylum’ maze argue that it is ‘only a few’ who do not see it as fantasy. Mental illness is largely invisible, with people often feeling too stigmatised to talk openly about it. But it affects one in four of us, so maybe it’s only a few till it’s you.

Related articles

• Thorpe Park urged to close Halloween “Asylum” attraction (thetimes.co.uk)
• Thorpe Park you should hang your head in shame – mental illness is not a form of entertainment (metro.co.uk)
• Thorpe Park defends Halloween Asylum amid concern from mental health campaigners (metro.co.uk)
• The Casual Stigma Test (Psychiatry SHO blog)