Mental Stigma Essay

You feel like others are trying to harm you in some way. You may have angry or hostile reactions to insults that someone may say to you. With paranoid, you tend to hold grudges and you think that everyone around you is unfaithful. With schizoid personality disorders you have a lack of interest in doing anything together. You like to do things alone and by yourself.

This is a pertinent concern in our society because of the way this prejudice affects the mentally ill. Not only are they faced with feelings of insecurity about who they are, but they also are subject to be treated as less than equals, and are seen as outcasts. As any logical person would conclude, this does in no way help the person going down the path of recovery. When what they would need is understanding and acceptance by their surroundings, they are faced instead with distrust and fear by others. There are many matters that are being debated and argued about that are less pressing than erasing the stigma. People are affected with mental disorders daily and it does not only have an impact on the person but as well as on society’s progress; its mentality and its development.

It can lead to feelings of vulnerability and uncertainty, and cause severe damage to the victim’s self-esteem and self-worth. It can even prompt them to question their validity as a human being. After exposure to verbal abuse, victims may develop clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Verbal abuse creates emotional pain and mental anguish in its target. People that bully often project their own negative self-worth outside of themselves, choosing to disregard their own flaws in favor of putting down others.

What is a stigma of mental illnesses and why does it exist in our society? A stigma of mental illnesses is described as discrimination against people with mental health problems. A stigma is what sets a person apart from everybody else. It creates negative feelings and stereotypes about a mental illness that leads to being prejudice. Mental illnesses are common today and the stigmas that follow behind it.

Well, stigma is defined as: “a mark of disgrace associated with certain circumstances.” stigma is most notable for people going through mental health issues, like anxiety, depression and ADHD, among other disorders. The stigma associated with mental health is affecting societies and communities in negative ways and should be actively combated by governments, NGO’s, and people. However, this issue is controversial, as many skeptics claim that mental disorders do not exist. However, they have been proven wrong. Stigma is a barrier for treatment and is harmful to society, as well as being a sign of a toxic community.

Sufferers develop low self-esteem from thinking that they are different from not being able to communicate properly and thinking that other people are thinking of them in a humiliating and negative way. Often people with social anxiety believe that they are worse than others, and are not loved. Depression soon arrives after thinking negative thoughts for such a long time that it over takes them and consumes their minds. Depression can lead to the person having suicidal thoughts which can eventually lead them to taking their own life. Because of the severity of social anxiety, it should be treated as a mental illness.

This article puts into perspective how those who are mentally ill lose their quality of life by becoming stigmatized by those surrounding them personally and in a broader sense. Their jobs, housing, health care, and affiliation with others is negatively impacted because of the stigma placed upon them because of their mental illness. This article continues to describe the stigmas that are placed upon the mentally ill by our Western culture. The authors state that mentally ill persons deal with being feared and excluded because of their mental state. They also deal with being viewed as irresponsible because of their mental diagnosis.

In society, mental illnesses are viewed in a bad light. From the beginning of time mental illness has been a taboo subject and the media has been making it even more so because of how it depicts it. Due to this wrong depictions in media, society has many

Public stigma, encompassing multiple stigmatizing attitudes towards those with mental illness, is often presented in three forms throughout the media, “people with mental illness are homicidal maniacs who need to be feared; they have childlike perceptions of the world that should be marveled; or they are responsible for their illness because they have weak character” (Corrigan and Watson 17). Noticeably, none of these attitudes are beneficial for persons with serious mental illness. These attitudes alter the way people with mental illness are treated by the public—which will be explored further on—and they also alter the way people with mental illness see

The stigmatizers cause negative attitudes which an individual directs inward as a form of coping, this in the end has an effect on their overall recovery (Vertilo & Gibson, 2014, p.267a). Not only does the stigma affect treatment but it also affects their lives in other ways. Vertilo and Gibson (2014) explain how “the label of mental illness discredits ones social identity by reducing the individual’s status and prevents the individual from obtaining jobs or housing and excludes many from aspects of social life” (p.266). The two most common stigmas perceive those with illnesses as dangerous and responsible for having said illness. Due to these assumptions, those facing illness tend to become socially withdrawn, have loss of productivity and lowered self-esteem.