Two weeks ago I wrote an article entitled: “How To Treat Someone With Mental Illness Part 1.” This article is going to continue that conversation. This time it will focus on the stigma surrounding mental illness.
The main problem with mental illness is that people do not talk about it enough. The same goes for the mental illnesses of anorexia and bulimia and other eating disorders. It also goes for people diagnosed with Autism or Down Syndrome. These are just a few of the disorders that affect people either mentally or otherwise and that are not talked about enough. The question that is being asked more and more is: Why are people so afraid of mental illness and why do they automatically shun people with it?
I think deep down when people find out that someone is “different” or struggles with a mental disorder, their immediate reaction is to shun or leave them alone. As stated in my previous article, sometimes it can be hard to live with someone with a severe mental disorder, especially if it is something permanent that cannot be totally fixed with medication if that is even an option. It can be extremely difficult as well if that person could get help and doesn’t want to. So automatically, most people’s first reaction to seeing someone who is “different” or finding out that someone they know struggles with something that makes them “different” is almost revulsion or wanting to not hang out with or love that person. Some people when they find out their unborn child has a birth defect that will make them deformed or mentally challenged want to terminate the pregnancy because they are scared or don’t want a child who is “different.” Some kids won’t be friends with the kid in their class who is crazy and hyper all the time or that kid who is in a wheelchair because they are “weird” and “different.” Some people don’t know how to deal with their friends who are depressed or not eating because of body image and so they walk away because they don’t want to have to “deal with it.”
When these things happen, especially if it is a kid who is affected by this shunning or teasing, they feel embarrassed and upset because of who they are. Some mental illness and disabilities you can’t change completely, and you will always have it. Some you can change, but the stigma around you still hurts so that some people don’t even want to get the help because they are embarrassed to admit that they struggle with it. This embarrassment can sometimes lead to even worse behavior such as suicide because the people with the mental illness don’t feel loved or wanted and are teased, shunned, and embarrassed. They think they are a problem or a mistake because they are “different,” and they believe that people will be better off without them.
That being said, the best thing you can do for someone with mental illness or a disability is not to shun them, but to include them and love them. They want to be wanted and have friends just like you do.
The main idea I want you to take away from these articles is this: be aware. Mental illness is not talked about enough, it is not funded enough, and it is hard for people to get the help they need because the cost of the medicines and health care is so high. This should not be the case. We need to be aware of the situation, to take care of and to love people no matter what their situation and mental stability. We need to talk about this and not hide the truths. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the suicide rate per year is 12.93 per 100,000 individuals. Most of us either have had someone close to us or someone we semi knew commit suicide. And that is not counting the people who have attempted and/or thought about it. And most people who do believe they are not wanted because they are shunned and not loved. This is not okay. We have the power to make the difference. We have the power to be aware and to help. And we have the power to fight the stigma and overcome and to get the word about how to help those with mental illness to fight back and get the help they need.
