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Chloe Heck

Professor Hellmers

Eng. 1201

20 March, 2019

Changing the Stigma Around Mental Health

The culture surrounding mental health has always been one filled with unnecessary shame,

denial, and isolation. With no educational programs about mental health that is widespread,

children grow up with no information about it, and ultimately there are great consequences for it

later on. This essay will examine why mental health facilities, resources, treatments, and

information should be more widespread, because currently the extremely negative stigma

surrounding mental health is doing even more damage to those suffering from mental illness.

Physical health has always been viewed as more important than mental health. Bodily

health always seems to come first, and diseases involving the physical form have always been

considered more demanding and important. With suicide rates at an all time high, though, it is

time to consider changing how we behave in response to mental health. The blatant disregard for

the value of mental health that is taught from a young age is what starts this culture of ignorance.

From the time people are children they are told to just suck it up if they’re crying, that nothing is

a big deal and to get over their emotions. Parents may think it hardens kids against the outside

world and what they may deal with there, but really it creates a hateful relationship between a

child and their emotions, which can have a very negative impact. Even just encouraging a child

the wrong way can lead to them developing a complex or phobia. An example of this is the story

of a teenager named Jake. Jake was a very successful student and highly valued his grades and
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achievements. Over the years the praise he received made him terrified of what would happen if

he experienced failure, so he pushed and pushed until he was under simply too much pressure.

As said by Benoit Denizet-Lewis, the writer of the article featuring Jake, “Jake’s parents knew

he could be high-strung; in middle school, they sent him to a therapist when he was too scared to

sleep in his own room. But nothing prepared them for the day two years ago when Jake, then 17,

seemingly “ran 150 miles per hour into a brick wall,” his mother said. He refused to go to school

and curled up in the fetal position on the floor. “I just can’t take it!” he screamed. “You just

don’t understand!” Simply pushing until you have nothing left in the gas tank by ignoring a

mental issue is how many people end up experiencing breakdowns, which can be debilitating and

far more harmful than facing the facts and visiting a mental health professional. It is looked

down upon so much that it seems like a last resort for many, while it should be one of the first

options.

Untreated mental illness can lead to a number of chronic bodily health issues as well. As

stated by this passage from the article “The Dangers of Untreated Mental Illness”, “t​he mind

copes with stress in different ways. Chronic mental illness can lead to aches, pains, and

gastrointestinal distress that have no physical source. Over time, your aches and pains become

detrimental to your physical health. You may develop serious physical injuries that make it even

more difficult to deal with your mental illness.”​ Like illness of the body can be a trigger for

mental illness, mental illness can in turn be a trigger of a physical condition. Some of the

subsequent results of untreated mental illness may include risks of many health issues increasing,

such as strokes, heart attacks, and obesity. The mind and the body are very closely linked, and so

issues involving the body are often overlapped with those involving the mind. It should also be
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made apparent that mental illness can also, depending on the disorder, affect how you interact

with people and make it more difficult to do so. The different symptoms and side effects can also

lead to increased stress and a worsening of the symptoms of your disorder, as well as an

increased risk of suicide.

It’s not understood quite what the implication of suicide is before it touches your life

personally. Sure, the definition of the word is broadly understood, but the weight and impact of it

is unclear until it is experienced. Afterwards it seems like a taboo sort of thing to talk about. If

someone says that someone they knew died from cancer, a great sadness and understanding is

felt. However, if someone says someone they knew committed suicide, a hush falls over the

room and no one knows what to say. That’s a huge example of the misunderstanding that

surrounds mental illness. No one knows what to say because it seems almost wrong to say

anything. That needs to change. It needs to be talked about so it can be understood, prevented,

and treated before it gets to that point of no return. Like this quote from USA Today says, “It

isn’t easy to acknowledge our vulnerabilities and traumas or accept our limitations. It isn’t easy

to ask for or accept help. But we all have mental health — we have all suffered emotionally and

some of us suffer terribly. We all have moments when we aren’t emotionally healthy. These

moments can be filled with shame and we can suffer alone or we can share our stories with each

other — of struggle, hope and recovery. And we can teach our children how to talk about their

emotional pain as well as their emotional health.” It isn’t easy. It is embarrassing and humiliating

and degrading at time but everyone has things they deal with, and it is time to open up about

those things. Simple things like a short class about mental health and suicide prevention may be

all it takes to get children- and therefore adults- to talk about mental health. Like the article said,
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we all have mental health. It isn’t a weird thing to deal with mental illness. Having one should

not be shamed and ignored. With programs that invite discussion about the topic, openness,

acceptance, and helping people can all come with them.

Mental health programs could be extremely beneficial to schools and the human race as a

whole. Prevention is the best way to solve a problem. Now, of course mental illness cannot

always be prevented. The idea that mental health programs could prevent everything is just

outlandish. However, they do present audiences with how to deal with and treat mental illnesses

when they do occur. They will always occur, because no one is perfect and the human brain is

very complex. With that complexity comes the risk of problems and bumps in the road.

Knowledge is power, though. Knowing what to do and feeling like they are not alone is the very

reason why kids would benefit so much from these programs. In an article called “How Does

Teaching Mental Health in Schools Benefit Students?” Glenn Liebman, the CEO of of the

Mental Health Association in New York said “They recognize how prevalent mental health

issues are and want to meld together education folks and mental health folks," Liebman says.

"There is a greater understanding that mental health was too important not to be taught or

discussed." He was speaking about how some people were opposed to mental health being

taught, thinking it was not prevalent or important enough to be taught in schools. However, after

seeing the positive effects it had on the schools who tried out practicing mindfulness and

breathing exercises, it has completely changed the minds of many who argued against it. One of

the main arguments against public education of mental health is just that, that it is not important

enough to inform people about. This is simply incorrect, because the misinformation this spreads

is far worse than the clarity these programs can provide.

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It is not just the mental health programs that could be used to spread awareness. After all,

adults have mental health needs as well. One thing that could be made available is annual mental

health check-ups. It may seem like overkill, but if someone is unwilling to admit to their friends

and family how they are feeling, they may admit it to a psychiatrist because of doctor-patient

confidentiality. Brochures could be made available. Anything but the current silence surrounding

mental health would be better. It’s almost like a game of telephone. The more people whisper to

each other without hearing the original idea the more misinformation is spread. Except this isn’t

some funny game. Instead, no one really knows the truth about topics involving mental health,

and rumors and lies are spread about it.

People used to be just shoved into mental asylums because others didn’t know what to do

with them. People with mild anxiety, if caught saying the wrong thing, were viewed as crazy and

shipped off to mental facilities, where often they were treated poorly. People assumed that it

didn’t matter, because they were mentally ill, but no one knew what that meant at the time. Even

now when information is as widespread as ever with the use of things like search engines, no one

really knows the truth about mental illness unless they have taken the step to go to a therapist or

psychiatrist. According to the CBHS, a mental health organization in Australia, “​ ​they

(depression and anxiety) are both very common, with depression affecting 1 in 5 people at some

stage in their lives and anxiety affecting 1 in 4 people at some point, on average.” and “Over

70% of sufferers keep their illness or problems to themselves for fear of judgment by society and

peers, which can be a significant inhibitor to raising awareness among the general population.”

The unnecessary torment and suffering people who are too afraid to speak about their mental

illness go through is unreal. The denial hits, and from there mental health goes downhill. The
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stress of not knowing what to do keeps building and building until there is no going back and a

breakdown occurs. Some people never recover from these breakdowns and it inhibits them for

life. To think that could have been helped by just having access to resources in their time of need

is deeply saddening. The way that mental health is looked down upon in the grand scheme of

things is very unfortunate, because these disorders are very, very real.

Suicide resulting from mental illness is the 10th leading cause of death. Considering it is

so high on the list, one would think it would be talked about more, because it seems like it should

be a physical issue on all of those leading causes. But no, it is something no one is talking about,

something that is growing exponentially and by day. Mental illness is not taken as seriously

because unlike many physical ailments, it can come and go. From the book ​An Unquiet Mind: A

Memoir of Moods and Madness​ author Kay Redfield says, “There is a particular kind of pain,

elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's

tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them

until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly

there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting

people. Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of

ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one's marrow.

But, somewhere, this changes. The fast ideas are far too fast, and there are far too many;

overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friends' faces

are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against--

you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of

the mind. You never knew those caves were there. It will never end, for madness carves its own
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reality.”​ Though this is a very long and detailed quote, the implications behind it are true for

many with mental health issues. The problems and symptoms seem to come and go, making it

seem sometimes like it isn’t a big deal in the slightest, but this is simply not true. This quote is

haunting because it defines the very shaky relationship people have with mental illness. The

unsure qualities of a mental disorder are exactly what makes them so unpredictable, turbulent,

and important as well.

Mental health leaves everyone who has had a run-in with its darker side scared. The fear

that it can create can scar a person for life and lead to even more trauma than before. Someone

experiencing a panic attack for the first time might then develop a panic disorder, a fear that it

might happen again. A fear so bad that they live their entire life cowering, afraid irrationally that

a panic attack could grip them once again. It doesn’t just have to be a panic attack, it could be

anything. That’s the scary thing about mental illness, you never know when it could strike. It

hurts people and their friends, families, and even sometimes strangers. Jenny Lawson, the author

of Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, stated, “When you come out of the

grips of a depression there is an incredible relief, but not one you feel allowed to celebrate.

Instead, the feeling of victory is replaced with anxiety that it will happen again, and with shame

and vulnerability when you see how your illness affected your family, your work, everything left

untouched while you struggled to survive. We come back to life thinner, paler, weaker … but as

survivors. Survivors who don’t get pats on the back from coworkers who congratulate them on

making it. Survivors who wake to more work than before because their friends and family are

exhausted from helping them fight a battle they may not even understand. I hope to one day see a

sea of people all wearing silver ribbons as a sign that they understand the secret battle, and as a
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celebration of the victories made each day as we individually pull ourselves up out of our

foxholes to see our scars heal, and to remember what the sun looks like.” As a result of mental

health not being talked about and treated, people don’t know how they are affecting others.

Something someone says to someone one day could trigger something that causes a downward

spiral in their mental health. It could be anything, and this is because the topic is so taboo in

today’s culture that no one wants to talk about their feelings or look weak in front of anyone else.

The people that make it through horrible mental health issues are just as much of a

survivor as someone has has recovered from a stroke or cancer. Therein lies the controversy,

because many people argue that because they can not see it, because the illness is not tangible, it

is not a real issue. Some even go as far as saying that people are just looking for attention, and

that people make up mental illness. Sure, there is the occasional person that pretends for the

attention, but you could argue that for a physical illness as well. Often you cannot see or feel

cancer, but you don’t argue with people that it isn’t real for that reason. For example, mother and

writer Leah Ida Harris argues that “I am afraid that it is this invalid and shaming narrative that

students will be taught — a medicalized, individualistic view that locates “brokenness”

completely in their “chemically-imbalanced” brains and not at all in the world that shapes those

developing brains and the bodies that house them.” She fears her children will be taught that

because of mental health impairments they are broken and worries this will hurt their self esteem.

However, this should be more closely evaluated, because in today’s world, it is more valuable to

learn about the brain and the issues surrounding it than self esteem. One could argue that self

esteem is the real issue, but self esteem, if it would be hurt by a talk about normalizing mental

health such as this, is not the issue, but something deeper. These school mandated mental health
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discussions and assemblies would not be put in place to shame or single out students, but bring

them together and understand how important mental health is. If you are going to deliver

speeches to children, you must know how to talk to them in general. There is a way to phrase

your words that is gentle enough and simple enough for children to understand, and that is not in

a “medicalized, individualistic” way. As with any piece of writing or speech, one must cater it to

their audience in a way that is straightforward and makes sense to that group of people. It is

invaluable to learn and spread knowledge about mental health, because the longer people are in

the dark about it, the worse the stigma will become. Sheltering children and people in general is

not the best way to protect them. Not just in a sense of them eventually having to be exposed to

the ideas anyway, because that would be irresponsible. However, these ideas should be suggested

to them at a young age because it promotes the understanding and sympathy that human society

needs to have in future years if they don’t want to see suicide rates rising exponentially higher.

Stories all over the internet are coming out about how people were too afraid to open up

about their mental illnesses because of the stigma surrounding the entire culture. With platforms

like YouTube and Instagram where people can share their stories, more and more people share

their stories and create a more accepting environment each time they do so. Seeing idols and

celebrities talk about how they are not perfect and untouchable gives a face to things like

anxiety, depression, and even less common things such as dissociative disorder. One out of every

adult is suffering from a mental disorder they may not even know about, or oftentimes, if they

do, they ignore it to seem stronger. This is an illusion and strength comes from the ability to talk

about your ailments, not hide them. As said by Samantha Williams, a writer and direct result of

the stigma surrounding mental illness, “The difference between living in constant pain and
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gradual self-destruction and living an increasingly positive, productive life can be as simple as

opening up to family or friends about feelings of depression, anxiety, or whatever else troubles

you. Nobody besides you feels that pain, and the only one who can take the first initiative to

getting help is you. That’s why it’s so frustrating to see people who are clearly suffering get told,

“everything will get better,” or “just stop being sad.” The inner pain you feel is as real and valid

as any bloody wound or broken bone, and it’s okay to ask for help.” As a survivor of intense

mental illness and a living result of the stigma and not asking for help subsequently, Samantha

has suffered far more than need be for her mental illness. Not only does her quote provide useful

insight about mental illness, but her herself. It is a shame that these things keep happening to

people, because until things change around the stigma, good people will keep getting hurt

without reason. It’s not just disease, it’s epidemic. The only difference is with a physical

epidemic, there is panic and empathy and understanding, but with this one, people only suffer in

silence and shame.

The automatic response of “everything will get better soon” is a hopeless and false

promise. People have told each other that for years and usually the response is something akin to

“no it won’t you don’t understand”. People call people with mental illness dramatic and weak,

and this only builds up how people feel. The feeling that your illness isn’t real, or that it

shouldn’t be holding you back is crippling. It can almost feel like lying, like an excuse, even

though it isn’t true and it is just a result of the stigma forced upon mentally ill people. Even the

phrase “mentally ill” evokes thoughts of people in straight jackets, “crazy” people. People don’t

want that to be them, and so they ignore the signs of mental illness because of denial. But the

truth is, they want a solution just as much as anyone else.

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Mental illness deserves to be respected and acknowledged, because the people who have

them are often just as scared of the implication as a normal person. It isn’t taboo, it isn’t scary,

it’s human. Mental illness isn’t beautiful. It is an ugly monster with six heads, sharp teeth, and a

gnarly tail to match. But it is a real thing, a thing that needs to be understood. You can’t kill a

monster if you refuse to believe it’s there. It’s a scary thing to deal with alone, but with

understanding comes support and empathy. It’s human to be scared, but it doesn’t have to be a

thing people deal with by themselves, and being together makes things a whole lot less daunting.
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This visual shows just how common the prejudice against mental illness is, as well as

how in manifests in the amount mentally ill people make them uncomfortable. These numbers

are staggering and could be greatly reduced with information and treatment being more

widespread. Understanding is the key to happiness.

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ffering-from-severe-anxiety.html​.

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