People often forget that the term "mental illness" or "mental disorder" can relate to any number of things ranging from situational depression, to something more common like ADHD, to even something more severe such as schizophrenia. The terms illness and disorder scare us when in reality millions of Americans face some form of mental illness in the course of their lifetime. Ironically, something that affects so many of us is still seen negatively, and is often severely stigmatized against the individuals who choose to seek out treatment or help in general. This probably comes as no surprise though. I'm sure most if not all of us have heard this premise before; about how un-accepting society can be, and how it needs to change. We've read the articles comparing depression to cancer, and how you wouldn't tell a cancer patient to just snap out of it, but this issue is still bigger than just acceptance and learning not to judge someone based on the scars on their wrist or the skeletons in their closet.
Mental illness goes way beyond a diagnostic criterion, beyond a therapist's office, and far beyond this article. It affects us all on some level--maybe through a friend or family member, maybe even through your career if you happen to be like myself and pursuing a career in psychology or something similar. It affects us even further as a society because the little things matter. Saying hi to a stranger on the street can often be enough of a positive point in their day to continue on through a difficult patch. Once again, this probably sounds repetitive and redundant. Treat others how we want to be treated; this has been beat into our heads since a very young age, and yet bullying continues to rise, our ignorance towards individuals stays persistent, and our rates of suicide and violence are still more than evident.
I should clarify what I mean by violence, however. The media paints an off-putting picture of
how the mentally ill are terribly dangerous to society, and that these individuals must be locked away from us as a form of protection to our community, and hopefully (maybe) for the betterment of the ill individual. While yes, some individuals are a threat and are statistically shown to be more dangerous than the average citizen, the majority, however, are not and never will be. Many who experience more severe mental disorders are if anything, usually a threat to themselves over the general public. However, TV shows and movies like to portray the exact opposite; showing a very different picture to its viewers.
What I am instead referring to when I talk about violence is what the media portrays when mass shootings such as Columbine occur: tragic incidents of "disturbed" or "mentally ill" individuals who are seen as horrendous people and discarded as scum and or evil. What I think we fail to recognize as mass observers in these incidents is the entire picture when things like this happen. I like to analyze the situation as a whole, because in most cases we are focused on only the victims, but in many cases everyone in these situations could be considered a victim. There's a very small percentage of people who are born as cold-blooded killers. This means that most of the people we turn up our noses at in disgust usually have had some form of background that drove them to such horrific actions. While I'm not justifying violence by any means, I still think it is important to realize that every action has a reaction. The little things add up, and while these sad cases are not always preventable, there is much we can do to aid not only in the removal of stigmas towards the mentally ill, but also in helping one another, in hopes of bettering the world we live in. No one should have to go through difficult times alone, and no one should have to overcome adversity feeling isolated or stigmatized from things that are often out of their control.
I dream of a world where we don't judge people on their troubles, or realistically anything that seems abnormal or unfamiliar to us. To not see someone who appears different from us as scary or a threat just because their brain does not work in the same ways yours may operate. I dream of a world where people educate themselves first before jumping to conclusions or making assumptions. A world where we are understanding and empathetic to things we ourselves do not necessarily understand. Once we can overcome the basic obstacles that we create, maybe then we can live as a more civilized, happy, and accepting society.
