Essay On Misconception Of Mental Health

The misconception of Mental Illness in America cannot be denied, many people dismiss the issue of mental health conditions, meanwhile others are aware of the conditions yet do nothing to raise awareness. Society will not hesitate to raise awareness about a physical condition but will allow little be known about mental conditions. When mental conditions are being acknowledged, the diseases are made out of mockery and are sought to be for entertainment, the misrepresentation is online and on television. Due to the social stigma attached to the mentally ill, those affected have a much difficult life and an even harder recovery. The millions who suffer from a mental illness don’t seek the help needed or they are denied access to effective treatment, which is also due to stigma. While on the subject of treatment, allowing Electroconvulsive therapy to be used on those who suffer from psychological disorders, results in mental dysfunction.
Mental conditions should receive the same amount of awareness and care as physical conditions since such sickness like depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. “It takes a much greater toll on society than heart disease, but yet it receives less than one tenth of federal funding.” (Joannie M. Schrof) Physical and mental

conditions are essentially linked to each other: “People living with a serious mental illness are at higher risk of experiencing a wide range of chronic physical conditions. Conversely, people living with chronic physical health conditions experience depression and anxiety at twice the rate of the general population.” (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2008) So both must receive the same awareness and medical care. Many people in America dismiss the issue of mental illness, and if a distinction between both physical and mental illness continues, it is guaranteed that people will never get the treatment that they need.
Many people with mental health issues face discrimination and their problems are made worse due to the stereotype that they are violent. “People with mental health problems say that the social stigma attached to mental ill health and the discrimination they experience can make their difficulties worse and make it harder to recover.” (Mental Health Foundation, 2017) The entertainment industry is to blame for this since they often stereotype those who are affected by psychological disorders. On television, they are often portrayed as “crazy”, “dangerous”, “criminals”, which is ironic considering that they are more at risk of being harmed/harming themselves than harming other people. Either way, that’s not the message that should be sent out because it indubitably affects them and those around them. The media is not only making a mockery out of those who are actually experiencing such things, but they are also making them seem like bad people. If the misrepresentation of them fails to improve, then people are never going to distinguish between the stereotype and reality.
Public stigma and discrimination can prevent people from seeking help and interrupt their road to recovery.

As mentioned before, since there is a misperception of mental health conditions, the ignominy can come from society, family and friends. As a result of public stigma, people with mental illness are robbed out of the opportunities of safe housing, a good job, adequate health care, and association with other people, which prevents them from finding employment and living successfully in a community. Cultural perspectives on mental illness are also a factor of stigmatization and people refusing to seek help. Allowing the illness to go untreated can lead to chronic medical health

conditions.
“Does it make sense to expose people to something which not only isn’t very effective, but also has a serious inherent danger?” (Dr. Loren Mosher,) Electroconvulsive therapy is unethical and if used too frequently, it could lead to cognitive damages. The percent of losing past memories from ECT is 41% severe, personality changes are 32%, impaired language and writing is 21% and impaired concentration is 42%. Although it is proven that ECT can treat severe depression, schizophrenia and severe mania, it still can result in brain damage and mental dysfunction. Risking to expose patients of those effects is why the usage of ECT should be stopped completely. America needs to find treatments that are more tolerable and attainable.
The misperception of mental health conditions in America is mainly caused by stigma and the media. Culture, family, friends, and social networks influence stigma and are a contributing factor to why people refuse to get treated. Untreated mental illnesses cost more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity and this leads to schools having to open more special education classes and jails having to handle a large number of mentally ill people. “More than 90% of children who commit suicide have a mental health condition” (NAMI, 2016) additional consequences from lack of treatment is that approximately 18-22 veterans die by suicide, 37% of students with a mental illness 14+ drop out of special education – the highest dropout rate of any disability group – and people living with serious mental health conditions are at high risk of having chronic medical conditions. America needs to come up with better strategies on how to get people to take mental illness seriously, starting by improving our tests, our platforms (stop abusing the power of social networks), and our healthcare system, to reduce those statistics.