Sydney Stanton- The Stigma Around Mental Health

 

The Stigma Around Mental Health

Sydney Stanton
ART 3170
Monday October 26th, 2020

    When going to an appointment with your physician, they measure your weight, height, blood pressure, temperature, and the list goes on and on of physical tests. Then, if your physician checks on your mental well-being, the atmosphere in the room feels more intimate, awkward, and uncomfortable; these feelings are all due to the social stigma surrounding mental health. For some individuals, this may be the only time they discuss their mental and emotional health, which is concerning as your mental health affects your physical health. In the United States, 38% of individuals with mental health issues are not receiving or have access to the treatment they need ("The State of Mental Health in America," 2020). In the twenty-first century, mental health is widely disregarded, and the stigma surrounding mental health only makes others' lives worse. 

What is a Social Stigma?

    Patrick Corrigan and Amy Watson created a research article for others to understand the impact of stigma on individuals with mental illnesses. They discuss a social stigma as a negative stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination that includes having a negative belief about a group, agreeing with a negative belief and having an adverse emotional reaction, and behaving on that negative prejudice toward a group (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). Essentially it is a negative stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination wrapped up into one term. For example, a common mental health stigma is that if an individual puts in the effort to resolve their emotions or 'tries harder,' that individual can overcome a mental illness, which in fact is not true. Now imagine the effects of this mental health social stigma on those diagnosed with a mental illness.

Statistics and Facts on Mental Health

• 19.1% of U.S. adults experienced mental illness in 2018 (47.6 million people). This represents 1 in 5 U.S. adults ("Mental Health By the Numbers," 2019). 

• The demographic of 'non-Hispanic mixed/ multiracial' has the highest prevalence (26.8%) of mental illness among United States adults ("Mental Health By the Numbers," 2019). 

• There is a high prevalence of mental illness (34.7%) in individuals of the LBGTQIA+ community ("Mental Health By the Numbers," 2019).

• Mental illnesses vary on a spectrum and range from mild to moderate to severe ("Mental Health Information: Statistics," 2019).

• The chart shown above is from Aware, and it discusses the level of comfort individuals have about talking about mental health ("The Stigma of Mental Illness," 2020).

 

The Stigma of Mental Health: How it Effects Others and My Community 

    The social issue of the stigma around mental health in the United States has always been negative and harmful for all individuals dealing with mental illness. Discussing mental health with others, besides physicians, has always been a tense topic. Explaining emotions and your mental state to others, at least in my opinion, is challenging, uncomfortable, and awkward, and I am sure numerous others feel the same way. This is because not many individuals discuss their emotional well-being with others, so it is seen as shocking when someone does. It has been a long-standing social idea to avoid talking about mental well-being for many reasons, but some include: it shows weakness, ruins the idea that an individual is perfect or is fine, and an individual dealing with mental illness does not want to be judged by their peers; this shows why the stigma of mental illness makes individuals bottle up their thoughts. I know that these reasons may seem like highly conservative ideals, but I feel that the way we go about talking about mental health has not changed much until this generation. 

   The stigma of mental health has affected my community, and I know that these same instances in my community have happened in others'. While I was in high school, there were three suicides; two of them were from drug overdoses, which happen in many suicide cases as substance abuse is often linked to mental illness ("Mental Health By the Numbers," 2019). These individuals rarely spoke to anyone about their emotional state; it was only until after they passed, the community learned they all had an underlying mental illness. The stigma surrounding mental health most likely caused them not to speak up about what was going on in their head. These three individuals were also men, and combining toxic masculinity created by society with the stigma surrounding mental health, speaking up about their mental illness would make them seem weak, which is the last thing a boy wants to be thought of as. In World Psychiatry, Patrick Corrigan and Amy Watson say, "One might think that people with psychiatric disability, living in a society that widely endorses stigmatizing ideas, will internalize these ideas and believe that they are less valued because of their psychiatric disorder" (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). This statement made me think about how many other individuals with mental illnesses are affected by this awful stigma and feel this way, and if the three individuals stated previously thought this way.

   The ways that media portray mental health and illness greatly affect the public's view and understanding of mental illness and worsen the stigma. For example, in a study by Corrigan and Watson, they stated, "Media analyses of film and print have identified three [themes]: 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 & Watson, 2002). I believe that misinformed individuals think this way about people with mental illness because I have witnessed one of these themes first hand. At the end of my street lives a man with what I believe has schizophrenia. He walks daily past my house, and when I happen to see him, I usually wave because he is super sweet and harmless. One day I was driving with my sister and her friends when one of them stated that he looks like a psychopath, thank goodness my sister isn't friends with that girl anymore. However, this shows how the media affects others and their understanding of mental illnesses. The media portrays mental illness as something you need to stay away from because they show individuals with mental illness as unpredictable and threatening when, in reality, there is a minimal chance someone with mental illness would harm anyone. In fact, individuals with mental illness are more likely to be victimized by violent crime than be the perpetrator of violent crime ("Risk Factors for Violence in Serious Mental Illness," 2016). This goes to show that not everyone with a mental illness is secretly Hannibal Lector.

   Due to the stigma around mental illness, not many individuals talk about it with others. This then leads to a lack of education and knowledge about mental illness. Being uneducated about mental illness can significantly affect society because these uneducated individuals won't know how to address the serious topic when the conversation comes up or know the signs of mental illness in another person, family member, or close friend. A study from Corrigan and Watson states, "Unlike physical disabilities, persons with mental illness are perceived by the public to be in control of their disabilities and responsible for causing them. Furthermore, research respondents are less likely to pity persons with mental illness, instead reacting to psychiatric disability with anger and believing that help is not deserved" (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). Combining the lack of education on mental illness with the ways others in society react to individuals with mental illness can cause someone's mental illness to worsen.

How the Stigma of Mental Health is Effects Me

      This social issue of the negative stigma surrounding mental health immensely affects me and is a crucial issue to resolve. I am an individual who, in fact, has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and this stigma that revolves around mental health significantly impacts me. For two years, I bottled my mental state because of this stigma. I was terrified and felt like a burden. I was scared about how my family would take it and what they would say if I needed help. My friends treated me like a glass figurine and were scared that I would lash out at them if they said something wrong. When I first told my friends and family about my diagnosis, it was very uncomfortable. I was tense and was even debating changing the topic to avoid the conversation. Then I reminded myself of how many other individuals in the United States deal with the same mental diagnosis and that I needed to rip off the bandage. Once I shared with family and close friends, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulder. One friend said, 'I would've never known if you didn't tell me.' This reminded me of how little mental health is discussed because this awkward feeling I had when revealing my illness to my friends would not have been so severe if we all talked about mental illness more to spread the idea that mental illness is not rare. As previously stated, 1 in 5 people deal with mental illness in the United States; we look no different from other members of society.

What we can do to eliminate the stigma

    As a society, eliminating the negative stigma surrounding mental health is relatively easy, in my opinion, but it will take time for the stigma to be eliminated. A critical step to eliminate the stigma is to start more conversations with other people about mental illness to normalize it and make discussions about mental illness more comfortable. Also, discussing mental illness can allow individuals with mental illness to feel safer and supported when talking about what is on their mind and how they are feeling. Think about how many individuals will benefit from not being stigmatized every day and the things they can achieve without that stigmatization weighing them down.

     Another step necessary to eliminate the stigma around mental illness is to educate others about it. By educating others, they may then know how to react if they see someone having an episode in public and learn how to identify it appropriately. For example, many individuals in society don't understand that illnesses such as depression don't mean that a person is bedridden and cries all the time. So by educating others, they can understand what the symptoms of an illness are and may be able to help out friends and family members if they recognize signs of that illness. Corrigan and Watson back up this idea of education eliminating the stigma of mental illness when they state, "[e]ducation provides information so that the public can make more informed decisions about mental illness. This approach to changing stigma has been most thoroughly examined by investigators. Research, for example, has suggested that persons who evince a better understanding of mental illness are less likely to endorse stigma and discrimination" (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). By teaching more individuals, they can also learn how to engage in appropriate discourse without crossing boundaries and making anyone uncomfortable. The world would be a much simpler and kind place if we could break the stigma of mental illness.

Conclusion

    At the end of the day, starting more conversations with others about mental illness will eliminate this stigma and normalize society's mental health outlook. We cannot physically tell who has mental illnesses and who doesn't, so it's always essential to check in on others. The smallest gestures can change an individual's whole day or even life. It's vital not to overlook anyone's situation and assume they are okay because mental illness is a daily struggle. By normalizing mental health discourse, we may soon make mental health just as important as physical health. You are not alone and do not need to suffer in silence any longer.

Mental Health Resources

• SAMHSA’s (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) National Helpline : 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

• National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

• Crisis Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• Or text 'MHA' to 741741

References

Corrigan, Patrick W, and Amy C Watson. “Understanding the Impact of Stigma on People with Mental Illness.” World Psychiatry : Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), Masson Italy, Feb. 2002, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489832/.

N/A. “Mental Health By the Numbers.” NAMI, NAMI, Sept. 2019, www.nami.org/mhstats.

N/A. “Mental Illness.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Feb. 2019, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml.

N/A. “Risk Factors for Violence in Serious Mental Illness.” Treatment Advocacy Center, Treatment Advocacy Center, June 2016, www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/evidence-and-research/learn-more-about/3633-risk-factors-for-violence-in-serious-mental-illness.

N/A. “The State of Mental Health in America.” Mental Health America, Mental Health America, 2020, www.mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america.

N/A. “The Stigma of Mental Illness.” Aware, Mentalhealth.net, 2020, www.mentalhelp.net/aware/the-stigma-of-mental-illness/.