Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Mental health stigma essays
Stigma of mental health in the 1990s
Stigma of mental health in the 1990s
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Mental health stigma essays
When it comes to my mental health, I can honestly say so far in my personal life, I have never experienced with any severe mental health issues. I think that I am very unaware what people go through when they have a mental health issue and I would really like to know more about the different mental health problems. I know people that I am close with that have experience with mental health. My sister suffers from anxiety. I have a few cousins whom I am close with that have experience with mental health problems. One of my cousins suffers from the mental illness, anorexia. My sisters and I were very close to her when we were younger, but when her mental illness took over her life, she became a different person.
My experience with my cousin mental
…show more content…
In my community and school, mental health was never discussed until I was in high school, when I took a course in psychology and I learned about different mental illness, and I found many of them very interesting. One thing, I remember learning in high school was about Sybil and her mental illness. I do not think I am aware of the stigma associated with mental health issues in the circle that I travel in. I feel like in a way it is uncomfortable to talk about mental health, but also in a way it is not uncomfortable, because some people like to express what they are going through, and some people enhance the challenges they have in life. I think personally it is very uncomfortable, I know from experience, because people in my family tended to ignore the fact that someone was suffering from a mental illness, and do not want to talk about it. I think if I had mental illness I would be uncomfortable, because I was would feel like that people would judge me, because I am different and I would feel …show more content…
It was actually this time last year that I feel like I experience a trauma, was when I was at Community College of Philadelphia, sitting in my math class and the school was on lockdown, because a student brought a gun to school and was actively running around the school. Sitting in a class for hours waiting to find out what was going on was terrifying. I kept looking at my classroom door, that did not have a lock on it to see if the shooter was at the door. I felt like I was in a movie. I was in so much shock and fear that I did not think I was going to make it out of school alive. After, this event happened, I was in fear for about a month, I feared going school. I had anxiety for about a month, about going to school, because I fear that my life was at risk. Another time, I experience trauma was when I was in a car accident, I was on a septa bus and a car hit the bus and my sister was severely injured. She had to get fifteen to twenty in her head. Even though I did not get severely injured, seeing my sister get hurt was painful for me to see. I also, got major anxiety about going on a septa bus, I feared everyday taking the bus to school in high
There seems to be this aura of taboo surrounding mental illness, which is not fair to those affected by it. People can say they have cancer, but they can’t seem to have anything to do with Depression or Bipolar Disorder. Why is that? Is having cancer somehow worse or sadder than having mental illness? People act like it’s some sort of STD, like AIDS; they can’t seem to get far enough away from those affected. Fortunately, some mental illnesses have been widely accepted by society, such as Alzheimer’s. I believe this is because it is fairly common — about 11% of adults over age 65 are affected — and people are aware that it’s common. What we need to do is educate people about all mental illness, not just Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia. In health class, for example, the teacher only touches upon Depression and ADD and a couple other disorders. But, that was it; she just mentioned it in passing as if a person’s mental health is not as important as their physical health. She went into detail about obesity and cancer, though. We had a whole unit dedicated to different types of cancer and their causes. That is what we need to do about mental health. Instead of letting people be ignorant and judgemental about those affected by Depression or Borderline, etc., we should teach them that it is not a choice. It is not just the person being dramatic or asking for attention when they no longer feel the need to live. It is a sickness. Even if you can’t see the effects on the person physically, that does not mean they aren’t
There’s a myriad of mental illnesses out there; in fact over 200 classified forms. The most common being anxiety, stress, depression, bipolar and schizophrenia,
“Trauma is used when describing emotionally painful and distressing experiences or situations that can overwhelm a person’s ability to cope” (John A. Rich, Theodore Corbin, & Sandra Bloom, 2008). Trauma could include deaths, violence, verbal and nonverbal words and actions, discrimination, racism etc. Trauma could result in serious long-term effects on a person’s health, mental stability, and physical body. Judith Herman, from Trauma and Recovery, said “Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life” (John A. Rich, Theodore Corbin, & Sandra Bloom, 2008). Trauma does not involve the same experiences for everyone; each individual is unique in that they, and only they, can decide what is traumatic for them.
PTSD is a debilitating mental illness that occurs when someone is exposed to a traumatic, dangerous, frightening, or a possibly life-threating occurrence. “It is an anxiety disorder that can interfere with your relationships, your work, and your social life.” (Muscari, pp. 3-7) Trauma affects everyone in different ways. Everyone feels wide ranges of emotions after going through or witnessing a traumatic event, fear, sadness and depression, it can cause changes in your everyday life as in your sleep and eating patterns. Some people experience reoccurring thoughts and nightmares about the event.
Mental health and mental ill health is a wide subject that includes many different categories of mental health problems. According to the organisation Mind, mental health problems affect one in four people in Britain (Mind, 2013). Although, that is a big number it still is a sensitive topic for many people.
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 on me. It wasn't until I was in my twenties that my depression just kind of went away. I thought I was done with suffering from mental health problems, but I would be wrong.
The mental health stigma has become a prevalent issue in the world of medical care. It can prevent people from receiving proper medical care and the quality of care people may receive. Stigma is defined as members of groups who violate the norms established by the dominant or privileged group and, as such, are marked as deviant (Jr. and Kite). Stigma can also lead to discrimination. The way we can try and diminish the severity of the stigma is to create transparency and openness about mental illness. Seeing that people are not defined by their disorder and can be successful regardless of the diagnosis. That they are not defined by their diagnosis they just have and suffer with the disorder. Also promoting education about mental health issues can diminish the myths about these issues thus lessening the amount of stigma. I have seen instances on our own campus in which they could have promoted counseling and mental health among the student body. I think the staff body could have took a more proactive approach to mental health. Instead of waiting until after students committed suicide and trying to fix the problem they could actively be promoting it regardless of the instances on the university campus. There are two different types of stigma; public and self-stigma. These stigmas can have different effects on the individual. Everyone has mental health and raising awareness about it and eliminating the stigma can help the world learn how to discuss and change this problem.
It’s amazing how a horrific and negative life changing event can encourage and guide you in the path of your future. The end result may not be visible when it first takes place, but the process of a recovery can be extremely educational. You see, I was provided the opportunity of job shadowing firsthand the fields of athletic training and physical therapy due to a knee injury. I believe the majority of people would consider a severely damaged knee a dramatic setback in life. I was able to find the silver lining during the recovery.
In the article Issues and Controversies says, "Throughout most of human history, people with mental illness were ostracized, isolated, and persecuted." ( Infobase,1) This belief system can give causation of mental illness in different cultures and such influences in a community will always be in a negative manner. Various societies struggle with the notion of mental health. The standards of every culture believe to be considered normal, natural, or healthy. These views lead to disagreements about the causes, diagnosis, and the treatment of the disorders. Many people with mental problems are discriminated against because of their mental disorder. Mental illness and stigma refers to the view of the person with mental illness as having undesirable traits. Stigma leads to negative behavior, stereotyping, and discriminatory behavior towards the person with mental health issues. This stigma causes the affected person to experience denial or shame of their condition. Perceived stigma can result in the patient being scared to seek help. Stigma can be divided into two perspectives, public and self stigma. Upadhyay says, "Public stigma occurs when the general
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.
Using narratives to gain an insight into human experience is becoming an increasingly popular method of exploration. Assuming that people are in essence narrative beings that experience every emotion and state through narrative, the value of exploring these gives us a unique understanding. Narrative is thought to act as instrument to explore how an individual constructs their own identity (Czarniawska, 1997) and explain how each individual makes sense of the world around them (Gabriel, 1998). It may also give us an understanding into individual thought processes in relation to individual decision making practices (O’Connor, 1997). It is evident from studies such as Heider and Simmel (1944), that there appears to be an instinctive nature in people to introduce plots structures and narratives into all situations, with an intention to construct meaning to all aspects of life in its entirety. The value of narrative is that it is a tool that allows us to understand what it means to be human and gives us an insight into a person’s lived experience whilst still acknowledging their cultural and social contexts. Narrative is thought to be significance as it is ‘a fruitful organizing principle to help understand the complex conduct of human beings (p.49)’ (Sarbin, 1990) The construction of a person’s narrative is thought to be dependent on each person’s individual awareness of themselves and the circumstances that surround them. However, a debate to whether a person is able to formulate a valid narrative in the face of a mental illness such as schizophrenia has emerged. Sufferer’s symptoms are often thought to interfere with their abilities to perceive within a level deemed acceptable to their society’s norms and therefore the validity ...
Stigma is synonymous with negative connotation. Unfortunately, there are three main stigmas surrounding mental illness that hinders the mentally ill from pursuing treatment. The first deals with how society, looks down upon those
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
Trauma relates to a type of damage to the mind that comes from a severely distressing event. A traumatic event relates to an experience or repeating events that overwhelmingly precipitated in weeks, months, or decades as one tries to cope with the current situations that can cause negative consequences. People’s general reaction to these events includes intense fear, helplessness or horror. When children experience trauma, they show disorganized or agitative behavior. In addition, the trigger of traumas includes some of the following, harassment, embarrassment, abandonment, abusive relationships, rejection, co-dependence, and many others. Long-term exposure to these events, homelessness, and mild abuse general psychological
I am sentimental, out-going, indecisive, understanding, curious, naive, lazy, and young. I want to be ... , well a lot of things, and growing is discovering what they are. I feel people cannot see the potential within, although there is no one to blame but myself. I look to others for approval instead of to myself. I aim to please; it leads to approval. I don’t like to discuss my faults; I pity myself.