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Mental illnesses short note
Mental illness and its effect on people
Mental illnesses short note
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Having good mental health allows you to feel, act or think in a normal way and live a normal life. Poor mental health can range from ordinary to more unusual problems that can make you feel unwell, and in some cases even make you lose your mind. In many cases, mental health issues developed due to a series of events or situations continuously happening in your life leaving excessive stress or anxiety disorders. For many suffering from this horrible illness, the discrimination is obvious and severe these days. In A New State of Mind: Ending the Stigma of Mental Illness the goal is to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and motivate sufferers to seek the help they need before the problem escalates. Often when I see or hear about someone with mental health problems, I immediately associate them with serial killers, psychopaths, crazy or retarded people but I have never stopped and think about how in some cases some of them can be good people needing support that can help turn their life around. I do think some psychopaths are just born with it and need to be supervised always to prevent crimes, but that does not mean that we need to discriminate and turn our backs on people who need all the help they can get to better the issue. …show more content…
Seeing how many ordinary people face barriers while they are trying to recover makes me feel some type of way towards the issue. I never thought there was so much stigma and racist discrimination surrounding the matter. A former mental health advocate Patrick Kennedy mentions how two-thirds of the people who do have access to mental health never take advantage of it because of the stigma associated with it. This tells us how, discrimination is the real problem preventing hundreds of people from seeking the help they need because they fear how they might be
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.
Disabilities of mental health are common, but not many people are talking about them. As strong stigma is attached to them, and mishandled representation only furthers the stigma. Lori Schiller pushed through the silence to present a narrative that shows the complex ways in which a mental illness can affect someone and those around
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.
The discussion of mental health is slowly being brought to the social surface to create a more inclusive society for those dealing with a mental illness. However, those with a mental illness are continuously being affected by stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination by those who simply don’t comprehend the complexity of the human brain (Glaser, G.2017). As more people become mental health activist, they are exposing the plethora of issues surrounding the overall mental and physical stability of those who are negatively affected by the social construct of what it means to be normal.
In today’s society, the stigma around mental health has caused many people to fear seeking medical treatment for problems they are dealing with. With an abundance of hateful outlooks and stereotypical labels such as: crazy, psycho, and dangerous, it is clear that people with a mental illness have a genuine reason to avoid pursuing medical treatments. Along with mental health stigma, psychiatric facilities that patients with a mental health issue attend in order to receive treatment obtain an excessive amount of unfavorable stereotypes.
Mental health literacy, similar to health literacy, provides information about mental health disorders and how to aid their management, awareness, and prevention (Wei). There are two main stigmas seen in the mental health community: public stigma and self-stigma. Both of these stigmas are detrimental to the strides being made in the mental health community. Within ethnic minority communities and the mental health community, stigmatisms and misconceptions associated with mental illness negatively impact people who suffer from such issues. In order to prevent unnecessary deaths and tragic suicide attempts, minority communities and the mental health community must work together to raise awareness and destigmatize mental illness.
“I was feeling really depressed yesterday.” “She looks so anorexic.” “I’m really OCD about my room.” “My boyfriend is acting so bipolar.” We all hear variations of these sentences daily and may even use them ourselves. Although it is not intended to cause harm to anyone, mental illness should not be phrased as adjectives. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) says that one in five Americans has a mental illness but those seeking help are not taken as seriously as they would be if they were exhibiting a physical health problem. According to the NHS Human Services, “92 percent of people with physical health problems receive the treatment they need, but by comparison, only 26 percent of people with mental
Mental health illness is often created and diagnosed from the subjective judgment of mental health professionals. Often times, diagnosis consists of undesirable traits perceived by the dominant society as a problem. Society creates beliefs and dictates social norms in order to instilling social order. Moreover, marginalized groups that are often disenfranchised are often diagnosed and labeled with mental illnesses, because of the inability to become resilient and successful from impoverished conditions. Delgado and Stefancic (2001) describe Intersectionality as multiple identities that oppress individuals that feature undesirable traits depicted in society. As a result, many people of color, features of disability and women may be diagnosed with mental health disorders due to multiple stressors in society. Hence, marginalized groups that are perceived as less desirable are likely to be diagnosed with mental health illnesses, because of their status and position in society. The mental health stigma is a form of social control, as mental health diagnosis is labeled from the dominant society’s beliefs and ideas. Furthermore, mental health diagnosis causes stigmas, and produces the inability for people to become resilient from the labels that have been created by the dominant society. Herein, many of these mental health traits are socially constructed in order to instill social control to disenfranchised groups. As a result, the placement of people in asylums and mental health diagnosis are attributed to socio-economic perspective due to social control.
Madhouses, loony bins, insane asylums, monsters, witches, and lunatics. These are the terms that haunt both the mentally ill and the facilities that provide their treatment. The stigma of mental illness prevents persons in need of treatment from seeking help for their mental illnesses. Stigma has been reduced throughout the years due to mental health support groups and out-patient care; however, stigma is still a very prominent issue today. Stigma causes those with mental illness to feel isolated and alienated, so they may harm themselves, or be afraid to find help. Stigma puts mentally ill patients in danger. Stigma must be eliminated to keep patients safe and healthy. Researchers must dissect the roots of the stigma of mental illness to reduce the discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping of the mentally ill. There are things that can prevent this stigma, such as changes in federal policy, public co-operation, and individual advocacy.
The viewpoints in all the articles discussed have been mostly for the removal of the stigmas and negative cultural viewpoints of mental health. Professor Faye Gary’s, in her article of “Stigma: Barriers to Mental Health Care Among Ethnic Minorities”, perspective is similar to most of my sources in that researching and preventing stigma in the mental health community is important, however she focuses more the background than the action. However, Corrigan and Watson, in their article of “Understanding the Impact of Stigma on People with Mental Illness,” similar to Gary, educate on the background, however they go a step further and claim that stigmas about mental health impair the people affected from being able to integrate into a society where societal rejection is swift with evidence to back up their claim. Wong, in their article of “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Mental Illness Stigma and Discrimination Among Californians Experiencing Mental Health Challenges,” , compared to the other sources, says that self-stigma is the most damaging stigma. No other source claimed this and Wong also provides a study for how self-stigma affects ethnic minorities. Connor’s perspective, in their article, “Attitudes and Beliefs About Mental Health Among African American Older Adults Suffering From Depression,” focuses only on the cultural barriers for
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.
Mental Health Crisis Stigmatization of mental health and suicide is a major problem which affects patients and their caregivers around the world. The stigma leads to negative behavior and stereotyping towards the person with mental illness. This causes the person affected by this to fell rejection and to feel shame about their condition. All the stigma leads to underreporting, and data collection methods that is critical to suicide prevention that needs to be improved.
There are many ways in which the mentally ill are degraded and shamed. Most commonly, people are stated to be “depressed” rather than someone who “has depression”. It is a common perception that mental illnesses are not a priority when it comes to Government spending just as it is forgotten that most mental health disorders can be treated and lead a normal life if treatment is successful. The effect of this makes a sufferer feels embarrassed and feel dehumanized. A common perception is that they should be feared or looked down upon for something they have not caused. People experience stigma as a barrier that can affect nearly every aspect of life—limiting opportunities for employment, housing and education, causing the loss of family ...
People with a mental illness are often feared and rejected by society. This occurs because of the stigma of mental illness. The stigma of mental illness causes the perception of individuals with mental illnesses to be viewed as being dangerous and insane. They are viewed and treated in a negative way. They are almost seen as being less of a human. The stigma affects the individual with a mental illness in such a cruel way. The individual cannot even seek help without the fear of being stigmatized by their loved ones or the general public. The stigma even leads to some individuals developing self-stigma. This means having a negative perception of one’s self, such as viewing one’s self as being dangerous. The worst part is that the effects of
Mass media “references to people with mental health problems found more than four in ten articles in the press used derogatory terms about mental health and nearly half of press coverage related mental illness to violence and crime” (Esseler, 244). This is causing for people to look down upon the mention of mental illnesses and many times ignore the importance of confronting this issue. Therefore the importance of removing this stigmatization is crucial. Education allows to make more informed decisions and then changing the perception of mental illness can lead towards policy changes toward the improvement of mental health (Sakellari,