Recently there has been increasingly more attention on mental health issues and a growing awareness of this epidemic that plagues so many members of our society. While people are becoming more conscious and educated on the issue, the stigma that surrounds mental illness is still present and very debilitating. Advocates for mental health awareness urge individuals to become more informed in order to help eliminate the ignorance that is the foundation of the stigma, shame, and other negative feelings and perceptions projected onto those of us struggling with mental illness.

But what if ignorance isn’t the cause of this stigma at all? What if people’s inability to understand isn’t nearly as detrimental as we think it is? While ignorance does not help alleviate the problem, nor does it offer any benefits, we place too much of an emphasis on it as the primary cause of the negative image that surrounds mental health.

What we don’t realize is, there is something else contributing to the stigma that is more detrimental than ignorance because it appears, on the surface, to be positive, and is disguised under an honest (though still false) sense of good intention. So what is worse than ignorance? A false perception of understanding.

What makes so many people completely unaware of the severity of mental illness is the idea than they possess that they can use experiences of sadness or worry to understand and somehow relate to someone struggling with clinical depression or severe anxiety. What hinders people’s ability to understand is the existence of similar emotions that suggest illnesses like depression and anxiety can be described by everyday feelings and emotions and therefore addressed in similar ways. But this isn’t the case.

This false sense of understanding stems from the problem that many mental illnesses slightly resemble fundamental human emotions, making them easy to disregard or shrug off as something that someone must simply get over. But while these similarities exist, placating the concern that should be accompanied with mental illness, they do not accurately portray the severity of these health concerns.

This is also why there is more stigma around depression and anxiety than there is around other forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia. This isn’t because they are less severe, and it certainly isn’t because people are ignorant of depression and anxiety but are somehow completely aware of and educated about schizophrenia. It’s the opposite.

People don’t understand schizophrenia, so it scares them, worries them, and fosters a sense of legitimacy about the illness. But depression and anxiety seem commonplace. Everyone has felt sad, everyone has felt worried, and it is therefore easy to dismiss these very real illnesses. The false perception that we can understand another’s mental illness is therefore the largest contributor to the stigma that exists.

If a person were to skip class or miss a day of work because of cancer, almost no one would question the validity of their condition or the authenticity of their intentions. If someone missed a day of work because of allergies, many of us would be more likely to be skeptical about whether or not the individual is actually sick or if he or she simply doesn’t want to come to school or work. Not because we’re ignorant, but because everyone has had a cold or allergies.

Everyone knows that while it isn’t pleasant, it is very rarely severe enough to have to miss school or work. But not many of us have dealt with cancer, and because we have no experience or understanding, we are able to respect it as valid. Perhaps the person has extreme allergies, and has a reaction leaving them unable to breath, warranting an eventual trip to the hospital. Meanwhile, the individual with cancer may be feeling fine and capable of working but is really just using it as an excuse to skip work or school. Even in hearing that the person with allergies had to pay a visit to the hospital, many would still be quick to judge him or her as lazy while able to forgive the individual with cancer. We tell the person with allergies to take some Benadryl or an allergy shot and get back to school or work ASAP, because in our personal experiences, that’s how we handle a cold or allergies. Meanwhile we are eager to encourage to cancer patient to get rest, focus on getting better, and come back on their own time, assuring him or her that we can’t possibly understand what they are going through but are perfectly willing to work with them upon their return to catch them up on everything they missed because of that horrible disease.

This is the same reason so much stigma exists around mental illness, and especially depression and anxiety. We don’t know what it’s like to have schizophrenia, and that lack of experience allows us to respect and fear it. In this case, ignorance fosters, at the very least, an acknowledgment that it is a real and serious disorder. Someone misses work or school because of a breakdown, episode, or hallucination, and we are quick to accept this as a valid excuse not to come to class or the office. On the other hand, if someone misses work or school because of a panic attack or because the depression is so bad they don’t have the energy to get out of bed, we tell them to get over it. We tell them to cheer up and look at the bright side or to take a deep breath because there’s nothing to worry about. We try to give them advice based on what we do when we’re nervous or sad, but what individuals with depression and anxiety are struggling with goes far beyond these normal and healthy emotions. And while the intention behind these offerings of advice is generally pure, all they really serve to do is invalidate the very real and debilitating symptoms of entirely legitimate disorders.

If sadness and worry were not common emotions familiar to all people, we would be much more concerned when individuals feel the intense symptoms of anxiety and depression. But we do have these emotions, and although the symptoms are just as intense, we are able to disregard them because ‘we know what it’s like.’

We don’t.

Ignorance is a problem that prevents a lot of people from recognizing the severity of mental illness, and it does add to stigma surrounding mental illness. However, it is not, in any way, the primary contributor that we ascribe it to be. While we should be informed and seek to understand the complexity and severity of mental health, ignorance is not the most harmful reaction to these conditions. The false belief that we do understand and our attempts to treat them with trivial advice is the real injustice.