Imagine society blamed people for being diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer, claiming that it was their choices in life which led to such an awful disease, making them feel guilty of a situation that was in no way deserved by them. This happens constantly to victims of mental illness, adding the burden of shame to an already dreadful illness. Considering the shocking statistic that one in four will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year in the UK , why is it that we hardly hear of people suffering? Why is it that a cloud of judgment and misunderstanding still surrounds the subject? People with a mental disorder or with a history of mental health issues are continually ostracized by society, resulting in it being even more difficult for the mentally ill to admit their symptoms to others and to seek treatment. To work towards understanding mental illness is to lift the stigma, and to finally let sufferers feel safe and accepted within today’s society. There are many ways in which the sufferers are degraded and shamed. It is a common perception that mental illnesses are not a priority when it comes to Government spending, just as it is too often forgotten that most mental health disorders can be treated and lead a normal life if treatment is successful. This branding makes a sufferer feel embarrassed and dehumanized; a common perception is that they should be feared or looked down upon for something they have not caused. This as a barrier that can affect nearly every aspect of life -limiting opportunities for employment, housing, education, and causing the loss of family and friends. The humiliating self-image when someone submits to the negative views held by others is also known as self-stigma . ... ... middle of paper ... ...ecting the people surrounding us and the sooner we realise, the sooner prejudice and suffering will be abolished from our society. I firmly believe that if everyone took the time to understand the importance of mental health, we would all appreciate how lucky we are to not face days where even the simplest tasks appear to be challenging, even the effort to wake up in the morning seems like a great ordeal to some sufferers of depression. It is important to let friends and family know that your support is available, just in case someone is tackling some form of mental illness. If someone is experiencing a hurdle in their lives, it is essential to continue to help them carry on in striving for the happiness that they deserve. We should all be aware of the effect our actions could have, to try a little bit harder to eliminate the stigma that exists within our society.
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.
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.
Having an illness can have an affect on an individual either physically or mentally. Anyone can be a victim of a mental illness such as, children 's, adults and senior citizens, it is not rare. There are hundreds of different types of mental illnesses and with more to be discovered in the near future. Struggling to accomplish a certain assignment or not being able to speak properly, can all be signs of someone who is suffering from a mental illness. Major depression, autism, anxiety and Schizophrenia, are just some disorders that can affect an individual’s state of mind, and over time if not not cured, it could become highly dangerous, but medications and therapy play a key role in controlling it. For some individuals enjoying life becomes
Mental health is an issue that has been bombarded with unanswered questions and cursed with a social stigma. Throughout history this has created a social divide between mental health issues and the mainstream media. This disparity doesn’t only create a social separation, but a lapse in ethics, making it tolerable to look down on people in the mental health community. Historically, patients have been placed or forced into mental institutions in order to “cure” them of their mental obscurity so that they can function normally in the society, yet for centuries this has proven to be an ongoing struggle for the mental health community. With all of the new advancements in medicine and our ability to cure more physical and mental ailments than
An estimated 61.5 million American Lives, or one in four, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year, and it takes a decade, on average for them to make contact with a health care professional (Pending). One in 17 Americans currently live with chronic mental illness disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder (pending). Despite the new discoveries and advances in science and technology, the social stigma of mental illness prevails. Why is mental illness an issue? Why should healthy people be concerned if their neighbor suffers from acute depression? Those are the questions that the average American faces. Yet, our society remains naïve when it comes to mental health. The roots of this issue are found in the lack of information and lack of mental health accessibility.
Janice Lloyd, health reporter for USA Today, states that of the 45.9 million people who reported having a mental illness, only 39.2 percent of those people said they received treatment. With those statistics, it calculates out to be that 27,907,200 people did not receive the proper care that they need. There could be a wide range of reasons why people did not receive treatment, but a large reason is the stigma behind mental illness. It causes the people struggling with a mental illness to be embarrassed of their disorder; sadly, I was one of them. I felt ashamed to admit to my friends and family about my depression because I was deeply afraid of how they might view me differently. After experiencing those type of feelings, it made me realize
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...
Mental Health is an issue that millions of individuals are facing here in the United States. Illnesses such as anxiety and panic attacks, borderline personality disorder, drug and alcohol addiction, and depression affect the lives of so many.
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 ...
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching by the University of Nottingham displays to the audience the process and the realities of a personal interview with the patients. The process begins with “taking the history,” in other words, finding out the patient’s history of the ongoing illness. During the interviews, one starts to realize whether or not the patient is aware of his/her sickness. The video for Mania and Psychosis, both males believed that they were not ill, on the other hand, the lady in Depression knew she was sick and wanted help from the doctor. The harsh realities are displayed upon the actual doctor and the patient themselves. For example: after seeing the three videos, the young man in Psychosis seemed normal to me; however, he believed that the secret service of England was after him. The young man is roughly two years older than I am. His demeanor presented a very
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
Mental Illness is one of the growing illness in United States. According to National Alliance of Mental Illness”1 in 5 adults experiences a mental health condition every year. 1 in 20 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.” If the person has a five family member, one of them could be diagnosed with mental illness. If there is 40 students in class room at least two of them could be living with serious mental illness. Although mental illness is something that familiar to us, there is still misunderstood and stigma towards mental illness. Then why many people still have a wrong knowledge and attitude toward mental illness?
Mental disorders are rapidly becoming more common with each new generation born in the world. Currently, nearly one in two people suffer from some form of depression, anxiety, or other mental health problem at some point in their lives (Editor). With so many people suffering from their mental illnesses, steps have been taken in order to get help needed for these people but progress has been slow. In the medical world, hospitals are treating those with physical problems with more care than those with mental problems. Prescription drugs can only do so much helping the mentally ill go through their daily lives and more should be done to help those who need more than medicine to cope with their illness. Mental health should be considered just as important as physical health because of how advanced physical healing is, how the public reacts to those with mental illness, and due to the consequences that could happen if the illness is not correctly helped.
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,
It is deeply alarming that ignoring mental health is systematically ignored as an important part of health promotion. This is shocking because, in theory, mental health is recognized as an important component of health, the close link between physical and mental health is recognized, and it is generally known that physical and mental health share many of the same social, environmental and economic components. We know that facilities dedicated to those with mental health problems are more vulnerable to the resources of physical diseases in many parts of the world, and it is essential that mental health promotion should not be equally affected