How do you think we can end the stigma around people with mental illnesses?

Question

Mental illness afflicts more people than you think. Take a look at the guy in the cubicle next to you. He could be a mental health survivor of depression, bi-polar disorder, OCD, or schizophrenia. It's time we realized that a person with a mental illness tries just as much to be a functional, integrated member of society as the next person. How, though, do we end the stigma?

Answer 1

Knowledge is power. In order to stop it, We need to provide the knowledge to give people the power. In doing so, people will begin to realize that Mental Illness is just the same as if you had high blood preasure, or diabetes.

Mental illnesses effect the physical system as well. Anyone thats been depressed, will tell you that their whole body reacts and to try to move, kills them. They just dont feel well. Ocd, Often times pushes someone with depression, making things worse. While they do not feel like doing anything, something in their brain tells them certian things HAVE to be certian ways.

People with schizophrenia..do things that they in their 'normal'
right mind wouldnt do. Possibly causing death.

Think about it, Most with depression often think about suicide. Each persons being differant as to how they would do it. All because they want the...whatever it is...to stop. Tell Me thats not physical. Death...of a human being is serious.

I believe that alot of people without mental illnesses judge one with one, why, because, its scary to them. They do not know how to handle it, and therefore judge the person as crazy, making the person with the mental illness feel even worse. With this personna on one with mental illnesses its no wonder alot of them, just want it to stop.

And think of the Nam Vets, or the ones that have gone to war and seen people killed. People that were their buddies and had their back..suddenly dead on the ground infront of them. Certian things can trigger mental illnesses. And theres no way around it. Yet those same people become judged, because they are having a hard time at the moment. Trying to get the help they need. Instead of being praised for what they went through they get judged, Or what about someone that has been through deep abuse. Thats a war in itself. Most often times the person was blamed for not being this or that, and there for the reason for the abuse. Inflicting a sort of brain washing, that is extremely difficult to reverse.. You beat into someone its you fault for long enough, they begin to believe it. Whether its their fault or not. These things set in deep mental scars. Scars that will be with them the rest of their life and a constant battle within themselves. The doctors telling you one thing, while your brain says something differant.

Most people, either want to push away someone with mental illness whether to just not deal with it or fear. If the person would gain knowledge about mental illness, then the fear would lesson.

People with mental illness are not to be feared. They are human just like you and Me. They deserve a right to try to become better just like everyone else.

Answer 2

Well, one thing that can be done is to stop feminizing mental illness. More men would come forward and get diagnosed if treatment didn't demand that they turn into p ussies and act like women to get better.

Also, people with depression and other illnesses need to stop whining as if their illness is the worst thing on the planet. It's not, and it is highly treatable.

Read the article below if you feel like it.

Love, Jack

From England:

Male Mental Depression In Western Society
July 24, 2006
Vox Populi
By Elder George

Excerpt:

As fodder for this column I read an article that appeared in the Manchester Guardian written by Peter Barker, which indicated that an alarming number of English men suffer mental health problems, but most are too “macho” to seek help. The article indicated that men don’t step forward as women do with their feelings of depression; that they must learn to acknowledge their feelings and be willing to receive treatment. Barker reported that in order to de-stigmatize mental health problems a lot more work would have to be done.

The above paragraph alone provided more than enough fodder for the next one thousand words or so. It illustrated the feminine and material thinking of Western society mixed in with a generous amount of ignorance. Could it be that men do not step forward as women do with their feelings of depression because they are not women? There are many things that women don’t do that men do because they are not men. Of course this is a deep concept to a society that does not understand gender differences. What benefits will accrue if male mental depression becomes de-stigmatized? Unwed motherhood became de-stigmatized in the West and it has increased ten-fold in just two generations. Divorce became de-stigmatized and has now become the norm in Western society. De-stigmatizing the un-natural or harmful tends to make it popular and propagated; it definitely does not eliminate the condition. However, the West as we shall see, has no choice but to de-stigmatize all that is un-natural and immoral.

The feminine principle adapts and nurtures; it does not change things. Women adapt to their environment and nurture it; they do not change it. They call upon their husbands or the government to make change. Men do not adapt; they make change. Since the Western male has been emasculated he cannot make change; therefore, the conditions that were considered undesirable have now been de-stigmatized and made acceptable.

The Manchester Guardian article never addressed the question of why male mental depression exists, and therefore could not get to the next question of how to prevent it. The feminine psyche of Western civilization cannot deal with the unseen; therefore, it cannot deal with causes but only with effects. It expends considerable money and effort to treat male mental health but not a penny on how to prevent it.

Peter Barker didn’t even pose the question, are rates of male suicide in England high or low when compared to the rest of the world? In a previous blog I mentioned that Denmark and Sweden had the same rates of male suicide, which were 150 times that of Iraq, 200 times that of Syria, and 300 times that of Egypt; data that can easily be verified on the Internet Now when a nation has a national suicide rate two hundred to three hundred times that of other nations, one would expect that they would ask why.

High rates of male suicide, depression, and mental illness in England, and in the West in general have already become an acceptable norm. In 2005 The World Health Organization announced that the major health issue of England, the United States, and Canada is mental illness. This year the National Institute for Mental Health announced that 26% of all Americans are now classified as mentally ill. Western society is going insane; a viewpoint supported by its own statistics.

Answer 3

I know exactly what you mean I to suffer from depression and people look as if I am crazy but I am not I am just as normal as everyone else the thing that really gets me though is fact that everything gets blamed on my illness for example of I go the emergency room they automatically blame it on my depression or say that I am making it up because of that and I am not taken seriously and that really frustrates me so until people have further education on mental illness I believe that the judging will continue and we as people need to teach them more about it

Answer 4

Very good question. Yes that is true normal people with out any mental illness do not understand us thay just think we are weard. My work found out that i have a mental Illness and thay made me fill bad. I have had myself depresstion for 21years and now have BPD and OCD. I try heard every day to ack normel but its very heard for me. I have that word STIGMA. Good luck

Answer 5

Education, plain and simple.

People fear the unknown. If we work together to educate the public, introduce them to people with mental illnesses, help them to realize that even though we have mental illnesses, we still lead typical lives, then maybe they won't be so afraid of it.

Another way, too is for people with mental illnesses to make sure they get the help they need. We can't educate the public on our diseases if we are afraid of them ourselves.

Answer 6

So called normal people are frightened an unsure of themselves when confronted by anyone unusual.

All we can do is continually try to educate the unwashed masses about mental illness.

Answer 7

By educating people. Having regular people with mental illnesses speak at schools and on talk shows. I get a lot of crap for being a recovering bulimic and anorexic, on top of my depression and anxiety, and it does so much harm to me.

Answer 8

I guess if more people become functional,because the medicine/therapy is working,would maybe help the stigma.People need to be educated,because they dont know the facts.

Answer 9

I doubt we can. we live a world of people who judge other people to quick. I used to bugg out with mentally ill people. But my stepmom works with metally ill so i got used to them.

Answer 10

Education and awareness. Understanding.