Perth newspaper, The Sunday Times published a ‘Brainteaser’ in the entertainment section on 6.1.08 referring to mental illness. The text read as follows:

‘During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the test was to prove a patient was crazy?

The director said: We fill up a bathtub. Then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask the patient to empty the bathtub.

The visitor thought she understood: A normal person would choose the bucket, as it is larger than the spoon. But she was wrong.

What would you do to prove you were normal?

The answer: You should pull the plug.’

StigmaWatchers expressed shock and distress, stating the brainteaser implied people with a mental illness are simple minded. StigmaWatchers emphasised that the joke may encourage misunderstanding, as mental illness does not mean intellectual disability and ‘mental asylums’ no longer exist.

StigmaWatch conveyed this feedback to the editor of The Sunday Times.