Stigma Behind Mental Illness 1

Stigma Behind Mental Illness

Vanessa Lopez

Arizona State University

Stigma Behind Mental Illness 2

Abstract

Mental illness has always been perceived as a touchy subject. The negative connotation behind

mental illness can make people that suffer with mental illness ashamed.

Keywords: Mental illness, APA Format

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Stigma Behind Mental Illness

Mental illness has always been something that has had a bad connotation in many parts of

the world. Coming clear with your mental illness helps you deal with it but there are times when

it is worse to come out because you will be referred to as weak or sick. Although people have

given into the stigma on mental illness, they are not aware that 1 in 5 people in America have

some sort of mental illness. Mental illness can be portrayed by our emotions, actions, and

behavior. It can sometimes be avoided but there are instances in which it cannot be avoided, and

people are born with them. There are many ways in which we can help reduce the stigma behind

mental illness.

Mental illness has always had a negative connotation surrounding it and there are times

when many stereotypes get out of hand and people dont realize that what they say about this

topic can also be affecting the people around them. Instead of people going and looking for help

there is more shame that is brought upon oneself at the thought of being considered crazy by

others. Two surveys taken in the UK recorded peoples opinions indicating that Little change

was recorded over 10 years, with over 80% endorsing the statement that most people are

embarrassed by mentally ill people, and about 30% agreeing I am embarrassed by mentally ill

persons (Byrne,2000). Most times even the people who are in our surroundings are aware that

people are embarrassed just knowing mentally ill people. So where can people base their own

support system off when it comes to sorting out their thoughts and feelings when it comes to

their own mental problems? Comfort and an established support system play a huge role in the

lives of every human being and when there is little to no support there are many negative

consequences that can arise. Some of these can be negative feelings towards friends or family or

even can be shown through their actions

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Often, words like crazy and dangerous are related to scary scenarios like those of

asylums that we have normally grown up seeing in scary movies. The problem is spreading at an

increasingly alarming rate because of the media. The media has the capability to spread

something across the world and people can that have whatever information embedded into their

heads without knowing much about it. In an article Peter Byrne talked about how, The media

perpetuate stigma, giving the public narrowly focused stories based around stereotypes

(Byrne,2000). People believe only the bits of pieces of information that have been tweaked and

manipulated by the media to say only what they want people to hear. Cyberbullying, for

example, is the place where most people that have a different way of thinking are attacked

because of what the media has taught them. The media has to stop portraying people with mental

health problems as monsters who are out to attack and focus on the facts which all indicate that

most people with mental illness become the victims of people who are afraid of change.

What people should know is that there really is no normal. Normal is an average of

what most of the people see and do daily. This not only makes it seems like dealing with mental

problems like depression and anxiety is not normal when it is more common than we think. More

than half of the population just in the United States of America have dealt with mental problems

but are too scared to come forth because mental illness has been stigmatized. In any part of the

world there will be people who will be too ignorant as to what can be going on in someones

head. A business worker stated: The blunt reality is that if I had been running a sweet shop I'd

have still found myself in the same position. After his collapse, which he says followed weeks

of not sleeping and drinking too much, Brian was admitted to a clinic for two months. There it

became clear that he had suffered from depression since his teens (Goodrich,2016). This shows

that sometimes people do not know what might be going on with them and that it can affect
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people randomly. Even if we to do one thing over another like he did, we would still be at the

same point. I want to let people know that it is not that something suddenly went wrong. There

would have had to have been a buildup of many things that lead to the mental problem and it is

not just a genetic problem.

One thing that is for certain is that mental illness unravels from within and there are some

genetic contributions that play a role in some disorders. This does not mean that there is an

established problem in how mental illness is caused because of the complexity of how the brain

works. But it is known that there is a source to the problem and although there might be no

genetic indication for some disorders there are traumatic events and different situations that

could have sparked the mental illness. As Frances stated, It would take comparisons of millions

of subjects with different diagnoses to show that a particular subtype is associated with a

particular constellation of genes. And the finding would likely apply only to a very small

percentage of people with the disorder (Frances,2016). The actual cause of mental illness is

unlikely to be derived from the arrangement of genetic material. People have always seemed to

believe that mental health problems are passed down from their family members. It is ignorant to

believe whatever made up information is passed down to you when even researchers are unsure

of the cause of mental illnesses.

Studies showed that At any given time, millions of Americans are living with anxiety,

depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, according to the National Alliance on Mental

Illness. One in 5 U.S. adults experiences mental illness in a given year, and 1 in 25 experiences a

"serious mental illness" one that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life

activities (Taylor, 2016). I do not understand why mental illness is considered a huge taboo in

many countries when there are many research studies that indicate that there is a high amount of
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people that have gone faced problems with their mental health. The world would be a better

place if we learned to embrace the difficulties that a person can face. Not only would this make it

easier on the people affected, but those who are surrounding them. The judging of people always

goes down to calling people dumb, idiot, or even retarded. The words fag, wet-back,

Jew along with retard have all gotten negative connotations because of the way that people

have used them and still use them today along with the word mental. Mental is usually related

to a person who is considered shameful or crazy. Society has made the use of vulgar words the

norm. but why cant mental problems also be considered something normal since it is so

common? If we addressed this problem, then we would be getting through the root of the

problems in mental illness and not cause so much embarrassment towards the people that are

suffering from one. I believe that just how people research presidential candidates for the

elections before voting, they should also research to inform themselves about mental illnesses

before judging.

People are ashamed to get medication because they have self-stigmatized themselves and

are too ashamed of what is going on in their bodies to reach out for help. Even if they do go,

[The] stigma doesnt just worsen outcomes on a personal level, but also complicates the care

and resources available to people with mental illness. In its Attitudes Towards Mental Illness

report, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted that stigma can result in a lower

prioritization of public resources and poorer quality of care (Friedman,2014). There are many

organizations that wish to show support for anyone who wishes to have it. They are not

institutions for the crazy but instead they are there to listen and direct you towards the road of

healing and rehabilitation. Its not a hippie place that is all peace and love, but it is very real, just

like mental disorders. There are many resources like hospitals, websites, books, and applications
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that can help people become aware of mental illness and their symptoms and hopefully help

others or themselves to seek help. Hopefully, the future has more to offer as far as sympathy and

knowledge goes. What we lack now are both of those things. We live in a world where if

someone gets physically hurt then they all run and comfort them, but when it comes to someone

that has a disorder like anorexia they prefer to judge or turn a blind eye. We must realize that we

are the ones that are giving mental disorders a stigma. Learn before you judge and that will

gradually make the stigma behind mental illness deteriorate.

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References

Byrne, P. (2000, January 01). Stigma of mental illness and ways of diminishing it. Retrieved

November 05, 2017, from http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/6/1/65#sec-2

Frances, A. (2016, April 30). What You Need To Know About The Genetics of Mental

Disorders. Retrieved November 04, 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-

frances/what-you-need-to-know-abo_34_b_9812922.html

Friedman, M. (2014, May 13). The Stigma of Mental Illness Is Making Us Sicker. Retrieved

November 04, 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brick-

brick/201405/the-stigma-mental-illness-is-making-us-sicker

Goodrich, P. (2016, December 12). Breaking the mental health taboo: 'Please talk about it'.

Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38211107

Taylor (2016, June 24). There's One Surprisingly Harmful Word Everyone Needs to Stop

Saying. Retrieved November 04, 2017, from https://mic.com/articles/146806/stop-saying-

crazy-and-insane-if-you-care-about-mental-illness#.bVLSyCAke