Why is there so much stigma attached to mental illness?

Question

Mental ill health can happen to anyone regardless of class, race, sex, religion, creed or culture. Why do we still shun it as if it were something catching?

Answer 1

It must be in human nature, which is unfortunate and needs changing. It is simply easier to have an excuse to ignore people. Labeling people that way enables some people to step back from their existence. It is also true with alcoholics, drug addicts, and loose poor people. That holier-than-thou denial thing fits right in with a person's right to make a living, but of course it is morally wrong and doesn't even have a place in ethics, as it represents the complete lack of them. People know that I am nuts but they humour me because I make them happy. This is completely different from the way we often treat people who cannot help themselves. I am able to say here that I am not one of those people. I go out of my way to help people who are having a time of it. I think there but for the grace of God, and I am reminded of my drinking years, eighteen years ago. When I see stigma manifesting as prejudice or meanness of Spirit, I always try to intervene and lift the situation to a level of fairness so I can continue to live with myself. - Chris.

Answer 2

It's better then it used to be, at least we don't chain them up in dungeons any more, but you're right there is still a serious stigma involved. I think the real question is, how do we change this? I don't know how old you are, but even if you aren't voting age you can still make it a point to educate your friends and the people in your community. Incidentally, thank JFK for bringing mental illness a little more into the mainstream. He had a sister who had a mental illness and worked hard to decrease discrimination against this population

Answer 3

People don't understand it and what they don't understand quite often makes them afraid. Mental illness is ubiquitous in our society and most people will suffer from some form of mental illness at some stage in their lives, be it depression or a psychotic episode. It would be fair more sensible if people understood that a chemical imbalance in the brain may cause the illness and that no matter how it is caused such people are ill and should be treated with compassion not ridicule and there certainly should be no stigma attached to it.

Answer 4

I don't know if it's fair to say that it's shunned as if it's contagious. Surely it's like anything else people aren't used to or don't understand. I think the immediate reaction of most people to anything they don't get is a reaction of fear and therefore immediate rejection. And as was pointed out by someone else, there are so many different ways to be mentally ill and it's also an easy thing to fake. Unscrupulous people can use these kind of things to their advantages and people are cynical. It's a shame that people can't be more immediately understanding but I also think that given the chance and with the proper explanation people are happy to learn.

Answer 5

That's an EXCELLENT question. Also, people seem to forget that our brains are just as much of an organ of the human body as our hearts, lungs, intestines, etc. If all of those other organs sometimes show symptoms of illness, I ask: WHY NOT OUR BRAINS?

I take antidepressants and I do know what you are talking about. The moment people hear you are taking drugs to help ease some sort of mental imbalance they immediately look at you as if you should be in a mental institution. I wish people would just wake up and see what's going on in the world.

The worst part of it is when people who really need to get meds for mental issues don't do it because of FEAR of what others might think of them. That to me is UNACCEPTABLE!

Great question by the way!

Answer 6

Lack of empathy and knowledge.

I think it stems from kids and how they like to tease people. It is far too easy to let other peoples' opinion rule your own when you are young, and if you are not taught about it then you will not understand. Mental Health should be taught from an early age, regardless of what the issues are. More and more people are diagnosed with a mental health problem, that it is now "normal" - for want of a better word - to have such an issue.

Answer 7

people with mental illnesses arent mental they just need help at that point in their lives lucky for me i'm quite successful in life but only a few years ago i was a mental health patient under going treatment for a few problems i had

but people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones

mental health problems can happen at any time
women being the most likely as post natal depression is a mental illness after all

come on people wise up be a little more understandin to others everyone has problems its just how people responds to them that causes the problem

Answer 8

what cant be seen is feared and there are so many different types of mental illness but unfortunately they all get tarred with the same brush.
i've had a really bad bout of depression today i took to biting my knuckles not very smart i no (which are now very sore) in an attempt not to totally lose it. i felt such despair and so lost and down i cant describe it.
the point i'm getting too is my tutor at my class today doesn't know i'm bi polar cos i don't tell anyone that knows me.
and all it does is harm me in the long run. all for the sake of peoples reactions and prejudices, silly isn't it

Answer 9

No i dont think it is nowdays in the UK. There definitely used to be a big stigma. Stephen Fry's programme on BBC2 a few weeks ago was brilliant and certainly helped me to understand bi polar disease much better. I think the same as with anything, ignorance breeds fear etc. More education is needed on mental illness, thus removing the fear and stigma.

Answer 10

I don't know why, but I feel it doesn't matter. When I was first diagnosed with substance abuse/depression, the stigma was a big concern for me. However, being worried about the stigma actually kept me from getting better. Once I stopped being bothered by it, I started improving. I don't give a rat what OTHERS may think, and that has helped me to get healthy again.

So the "stigma" is neither here nor there for me - I have better things to spend my energy on than worrying about what others think of me. They aren't worth it. And I'm not going to waste any energy getting all political about it by "fighting the stigma" and trying to "raise awareness." What people think and do is their own business. Anyway, they probably aren't thinking about me as much as I THINK they are...

Ironically, since I have stopped worrying about the stigma, the stigma no longer applies to me. My depression is under control, and no one needs to know about it. And they WON'T know about it as long as I do well. Therefore, the stigma is powerless.

"Other people's opinions of me are none of my business." (often attributed to Wayne Dyer)

also a title of a book: "What You Think of Me is None of My Business" (Terry Cole-Whittaker)

"Change your thoughts, and you change your world." (Norman Vincent Peale)

"I may not be much, but I'm all I ever think about." (Anne Lamott)

Love Jack