If someone had a broken leg, would you tell them to get over it and climb a few flights of stairs? If someone had cancer, would you tell them it's all in their head? If you answered no to both of these questions, then congratulations: you're an actual human being.

Pressuring people with physical illnesses is an obvious no. So, why do people pressure others with a mental illness to do things that they can't? Others seem to think that a mental illness, like depression or bipolar disorder, is all a figment of someone's imagination. The majority of the population thinks this: "If I can't physically see that you're sick, you can easily get over it." This makes absolutely no sense to me. As someone who has lived through depression and an anxiety disorder, I understand how this feels. I could barely get out of bed most days because of how mentally unstable I was for the majority of my sophomore year. Knowing my parents would never believe me, I would make a physical excuse, like "my head hurts" or "I have a stomach ache." When in reality, I was mentally sick. Depression was eating away at my brain and at my body, but no one saw. So, I guess that means that it didn't actually exist, right?

The definition of stigma is "a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person." It's a noun, and it absolutely exists when having to do with mental illness. It could be hard for people without a mental illness to understand because someone is hurting inside their own head, but why can't we be more accepting of mental illnesses? The only logical answer to my question would be that no one knows what a mental illness is like unless you experience one firsthand. People can imagine that a broken limb would hurt and be difficult to live with, but no one can really imagine how it would feel to mentally hurt.

Studies show that most people hold negative attitudes and stereotypes toward people with mental illness. These negative attitudes from people in a public setting can be scary for the victim of the illness. And with these negative attitudes comes stereotypes. A huge stereotype that people think can be that someone with a mental illness is literally insane. They will usually compare all mentally ill people to people who have committed crimes, like shootings or bombings (Editor's Note: According to HHS, only 3%-5% of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with a serious mental illness; and people with severe mental illnesses are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population). While mental illness can be associated with these crimes, it does not mean everyone with a mental illness is insane. I think that when someone says, "I have a mental illness," people don't believe them because they aren't doing something so out of the ordinary. These disorders and illnesses are usually a quiet, internal battle.

Usually when something is said enough, people start to believe it themselves. Self-stigma is also a relevant thing. This means that someone with a mental disorder will start to believe that they are making up something that they actually have. They start to have an attitude that just makes them want to give up and not try to battle whatever they have anymore. This can cause a person to avoid their disorder, which can lead to the worsening of well-being, like suicide or self-harm.

So, how do we become stronger than the stigma? Well, the answer is awareness. If we spread enough awareness about mental illness, more people could understand how serious it is and how much more we need to pay attention to it. We need to demand that mental illness is treated as an equal to physical illness and get the treatment we so rightfully deserve. We can be stronger than the stigma. We can be stronger than our silent illness.