Mental disorders are the ugly cousin of physical disorders/injuries. Since people can't see it with their naked eyes they do not see it as such a big deal. It's brushed off, but what's the real damage that we do by not acknowledging a mental disorder?
What's a mental disorders?
According to Mayo Clinic a mental disorders is " a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior". Imagine trying to function in society But you are being internally flooded with a million emotions and thoughts. According to ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America) There are currently 40 million adults suffering with a mental disorder in the United States.
You're the problem
What's the real damage of assuming a person is just sad or unpredictable and violent? Mental Health reports that the uneducated stigma surrounding people's mental disorder has a negative effect on their life. When prejudice reaches the ears of for example someone with depression treatment can be delayed or not be sought after. It can also cause the person to isolate themselves.
Teenagers have it a little bit harder in my opinion. The hormones are raging and they go through their mood swings at times. It's the experimental phase because not one of us knew what the hell we we're doing. If you add all these things together it looks like a common phase. This can cause frustration and confusion for the teenager. Tellings them things like " Snap out of it" or "it's all in your head" do nothing but internal damage.
Media and Mental Illnesses
Mainstream Media is a huge contributor for negative stigma surrounding mental disorders. Unless we personally went to school to educate ourselves about mental disorders;the majority of our information comes from movies and TV shows. Movies like shutter island, girl interupted, and black swan shed a false light on mental illnesses. They portray the characters as suicidal, unpredictable, and dangerous. Not all schizophrenics are dangerous, not all depressed people cut themselves or are just sad it's up to us to separate truth from myth.
Let's not assume a person is crazy or sad. Let's take the time to properly educate ourselves about mental illnesses. Once we acknowledge that the media is not an accurate source for mental disorders we'll break bad stigma. Hopefully this will encourage people to seek treatment for whatever battle they may be fighting. I now leave u with the words of Bill Clinton " Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all"
