Let's End the Mental Health Stigma

I think that it is fairly well-known that there is a stigma when it comes to mental health. We have certainly come a long way overall, but there is still a long way to go. I believe there are two main reasons for the stigma behind mental health issues.

The first reason is that many individuals automatically associate a mental health issue with insanity, or with diagnoses such as bipolar or schizophrenia. Of course these conditions do exist, but a lot of the time, an individual who is experiencing problems with their mental health is dealing with something less clinically severe (although still very real and difficult). This is the same exact thing with physical health - when someone says that they have an issue with their physical health, this does not automatically mean that they have something as extreme as cancer. A physical condition could be anything from a broken bone to the stomach bug. There are a wide variety of possible physical issues someone could have, and the same goes for mental health issues. I believe that we should not assume that just because someone is having a hard time mentally, this means that they are “crazy”. Also - even if someone does have a severe mental condition, this person is still a human being who deserves respect and treatment.

The second reason for the stigma behind mental health issues is because others cannot see them. Just because something cannot be seen does not mean it isn’t there. It is extremely real to the person who is suffering from it. There are plenty of physical ailments that cannot be seen either - headaches, stomachaches, any chronic pain - but these are also quite real. Now, could someone lie about feeling mentally unwell? Of course. The same thing happens with physical issues. How many times have people called off work or skipped class because they claimed they were physically sick, when they actually felt fine and were lying? There are always going to be cases when someone is lying to get out of doing something they do not want to do. But what happens when someone is experiencing a very real panic attack, debilitating anxiety, or is feeling depressed? I am sure that it is astronomical the number of times someone called off work for a real mental health issue they were struggling with, but they lied and said it was because they were sick. This is because of the mental health stigma. It is way more believable and socially acceptable for someone to call off from being physically unwell than mentally unwell. I have done this several times during bad mental health days. I knew that saying I was struggling mentally would not be as well-received as saying that I was sick. I would say that I was not feeling well, knowing that it would most likely be assumed that I was referring to not feeling well physically, when I actually was not feeling well mentally. Are there days when I can power through even though I am not feeling well? Of course - and this applies to whether I’m not feeling well physically or mentally. There are times when doing something can distract me from the way I am feeling, which can be helpful. However, there are days when I know that I cannot do what is on the schedule for that day. There comes a point when we really do need a rest day - whether it is due to a physical issue or a mental issue. I love and appreciate hard work, but we’re not robots.

We currently live in a society where it is encouraged to attend routine doctor’s appointments in order to be proactive about our physical health - to catch something early, or prevent something from happening in the first place. This is incredible, and how it should be. But this is not the case when it comes to mental health. How many people do we know that have been attending routine mental health appointments to be proactive - before something bad happens? Mental health treatment seems to be more reactive. Heck, even after someone goes through something that is damaging to their mental health, there are still individuals that believe the concept that “therapy is for wimps”, or that having emotions is too "girly". So not only are we not encouraging preventative mental health measures, but many people are also not encouraging reactive mental health treatment. There are countless individuals who suffer in silence. I’m not saying that the field of physical healthcare is top notch, because it is far from it. However, I do believe that the overall attitude and perception towards receiving physical health care is significantly more normalized than receiving mental health care.

So the question is - what do we do? What can we do? 

We keep advocating for the mental health of ourselves, our friends, and our family. We iterate the importance of our emotional well-being. We keep learning ways to prevent, address, manage, and treat these issues. Because if we have poor mental health, this will have a domino effect on all areas of our lives. The fact that our mental health problems are invisible to others makes it even more important that we have a better understanding of how to handle them, and to speak up about them. We should be well-equipped to handle the tough things that life will throw at us. Pretending that these issues do not exist, or belittling the issues, is never going to work.