Having a mental illness makes me different. At least that's what society says. How can one not start to believe it when it's all they have been exposed to? It's a terrible thing for me to say, but I once believed it. I hit a very low point in my life, I was dealing with my mental illness of major depression, anxiety, I just moved houses and schools, and my parents were recently divorced. Our society put all the pressure on that I was different for having my mental illnesses and I truly believed it. People do not know how much of an impact the mental health stigma really affects one with a mental health issue. I want to explain to at least one person how it makes one feel. Explaining it to someone could eventually spread their awareness to others …show more content…
I have been labeled crazy, freak, attention seeker, faker, and different. Those labels are just a few, it's crazy with the names or labels people can come up with. High school is already a hard time in a lot of people's lives and having a mental illness throughout it makes it no easier. Teenagers are known to gossip, judge, and bully. Most teenagers can admit to doing that at least once. I have seen it countless times throughout my highschool career, and I have experienced people do it first hand. People are very uneducated on mental illnesses, so when it actually comes up in their life with a friend or an acquaintance they don't know what to do. So they start gossiping, judging, and bullying them. It really hurts when people start labeling you. My own sister called me a faker. It broke my heart, but I learned that I needed to get over it. That's how I thought I would always be viewed as by our society. I was put in a hospital for my safety because of my mental illness. Many people think that you're crazy if you have to go to the hospital. They think you have something along the lines of schizophrenia. Not all mental illnesses are like that. My own friends didn't know what to do when I told them I had to go to the hospital because I was suicidal. They started telling other people that I was in there without my permission. They completely lost my trust. It feels terrible to have people gossip about you with something you can't even control. I remember one of …show more content…
There is no doubt about it. Things need to change or things could get really bad for people with mental health issues. The outsiders don't understand how bad this stigma can affect a person. It is just another stress on top of the already stressful mental illness. I wish people could understand how I and others feel, but I know that will never happen. People will never truly understand what we have to go through and they don't seem to grasp that we are just as human as them. We have feelings too. But that's okay, there are ways to help them to understand how we feel and to educate them on the subject. One major step that needs to be taken in ending the stigma is educating. People need to be educated on the subjects at school and in the workplace. Really anywhere that it can be taught. If people started to get educated that would be a major impact on the start to making a change.. Having classes on how to communicate with people with mental illness would be great too. People need to be more accepting and I feel them being more educated on the subject will help. People can make a change and it needs to be done. I want this subject to be talked about and everyone to stand up against the stigma. I want change, for me and everyone I know who has suffered from a mental illness. We deserve it. Lets fight this stigma and make a change because I am not
The stigma and negative associations that go with mental illness have been around as long as mental illness itself has been recognized. As society has advanced, little changes have been made to the deep-rooted ideas that go along with psychological disorders. It is clearly seen throughout history that people with mental illness are discriminated against, cast out of society, and deemed “damaged”. They are unable to escape the stigma that goes along with their illness, and are often left to defend themselves in a world that is not accepting of differences in people. Society needs to realize what it is doing, and how it is affecting these people who are affected with mental illness. If we continue to not help them, and to foster their illness, it will only get worse.
Rusch, et al. "Mental Illness Stigma: Concepts, Consequences, And Initiatives To Reduce Stigma." European Psychiatry 20-8 (2005): 529-539. Print.
Stereotypes and stigmas promote a dangerous, single-minded perspective. These incomplete or half-truths are often far more duplicitous than lies, as they are more difficult to detect. When these perspectives remain unchecked, they can result in far-reaching, adverse consequences. It is the individual’s duty to refuse to perpetuate this single story perspective. Due to misinformation presented by the media, the stigma surrounding mental illness has created a discriminatory single story perspective; however, through honest and open dialogue, particularly with those suffering from these diseases, these stereotypes can be abolished.
Most importantly, collecting testimonies from people who are dealing with a mental health disorder.I find this to be extremely important because we become aware that isolation, forced medication/over use of medication, use of leather strap downs, do not work. As the result of being uninformed “people with mental illness are robbed of the opportunities that define a quality life: good jobs, safe housing, satisfactory health care, and affiliation with a diverse group of people.”(Corrigan and Watson. 2002). As we are begin to understand the good and bad about the diagnosis we also see systemically what is not working for mental health community.
Both Meg and Jim explained that when growing up, mental illness was something that was never talked about in their schools. As a result, children then and now act negatively towards the concept of mental health. Meg shared an example from her life where this was especially apparent. She explained that growing up she had a lot of friends. However, once her illness grew increasingly worse during her senior year of high school, she noticed that her friend group dwindled dramatically. Her friends did not understand what she was going through. They would tell her that they did not like to spend time with her because ‘she sucked the fun out of everything.’ At this point in time, Meg was having a very hard time with her mental illness and the loss of her friends seemed to be a tipping point for her. It pushed her further into her sad state where she started using self-harm as a way to cope. Knowledge pertaining to mental health is extremely important. Research shows that “most children around five years of age have knowledge of stereotypes related to mental illness, and report that they personally believe them. Negative attitudes towards mental illness observed tend to be consolidated during adulthood (Campos, Palha, Dias, Lima, Veiga, Costa & Duarte, 2012, p.259-260).” Stereotypes resulting in stigmas are learned at a young age. It is critical that kids start learning the
There is a stigma surrounding seeking help for mental illness that needs to be broken. Mental illness is not to be taken lightly, it is a serious matter. These people need genuine help; help that they should be able to seek without having to worry about repercussions.
Stigma can be a major issue for those with mental illness. It can come from many different people in their lives, from family to complete strangers. So along with their own issues dealing with symptoms and regaining control of their life back, they also can have a negative influence related to their worth from stigma that can hinder them. Recovery in mental illness is ongoing and develops as the person matures, hopefully progressing in their ability to function better in society (Markowitz, Angell, & Greenberg, 2011). Stigma logically has an influence on self-worth and self-esteem for any group of people. Stigma if a large enough influence can make an individual diagnosed with a mental illness view themselves as tainted or less than before
This is widely due to mass media creating a stigma for the mentally ill people that most of the general population tend to believe in the United States. I will begin with what I remember of my experience of learning I have mental health illness. I remember suffering heavily through my early teens to my twenties with depression. I had tried at that time just about every type of depression medication available and none of them worked for me. It wasn't until I was in my twenties that my depression just kind of went away.
The impact of stigma is two-fold, there is the public stigma which surrounds mental illness this is the reaction that the general population has towards those unfortunate enough to suffer with mental illness. Then there is self-stigma which is the judgement and prejudice which those suffering with mental illness turn against themselves. Public and self-stigma may be understood in by exploring three concepts: stereotypes, prejudice, and
The two different types of stigma have different effects on the attitude towards those with mental health issues. The public stigma can lead to discrimination and prejudice. The prejudice and discrimination that result from the public stigma can prevent those diag...
For a very long time, mental health was a disease people would not dare speak about. The stigma associated with mental health meant that it was viewed as a curse or simply poor upbringing. Crazy, right? (Pardon the pun). Although it’s not seen as a curse by us in this generation any more, many people with mental health issues still have to face ignorance, prejudice and discrimination from our society just because of their lack of understanding or reluctance to try and understand. Be that as it may, these attitudes directly impact upon how and if people choose to seek help, making the negative and ignorant opinions and attitudes of others potentially dangerous to many individuals and the people around them.
Why is there a cloud of judgment and misunderstanding still surrounding the subject? People with a mental disorder or with a history of mental health issues are continually ostracized by society. This results in it being more difficult than it already is for the mentally ill to admit their symptoms to others and to seek treatment. To towards understanding mental illness is to finally lift the stigma, and to finally let sufferers feel safe and accepted within today’s society. There are many ways in which the mentally ill are degraded and shamed.
The stigma is created by the lack of knowledge, narrow-minded attitudes, and the acts of judgment against people who have a mental illness. The stigma results in extensive consequences for the individuals being affected. The stigma ends up becoming worse than the mental illness itself because it prevents individuals from seeking help during the early stages of the mental illness. There is even a vast availability of mental-health treatments that are effective, yet the majority of people experiencing problems related to mental-health does not seek help. 28% of the adult population of the United States have a diagnosable mental condition and only 8% seek treatment. These statistics help prove that stigma is one of the main reasons for individuals not willing to seek help. The individual fears being stigmatized. They fear being rejected by their loved ones and the general public. They do not want to be devalued. The way that individuals with mental illnesses are called “the mentally ill” in the media just makes the stigma even worse. This makes the person feel defined solely by their disability, which is inhumane. The person begins to feel less of a human being. In the media, they are viewed as being dangerous and violent, which results with inhumanity towards the individual. This just increases the negative stereotypes towards individuals with a mental
There is many sources of the stigma but one of the main source is people’s ignorance
My grandmother struggled with mental illness in her later years and was treated discriminately, even by the staff that was to care for her in the nursing home. The answer to “dealing” with my grandmother was to drug her so much she couldn’t talk or tie her to her bed and leave her in the room to scream. I find that many people who have mental illness are shut out and the people around them do what they have to pretend it doesn’t exist and ignore it so they can go on with their lives. I think people with mental illness are seen as burdens or dangerous and are blocked out from society whether that be relationships, jobs or other simple forms of life and socialization. Discrimination against people with mental illness will even happen in the person’s own family and people who say they love them will give up on them and consider them a waste of time because their own lives are falling apart trying to cope with the family member.