How Does Mental Illness Affect Society

Mental illnesses are not a thing of the past. They are also our present and future. John Q. Adams once said, “Who we are, is who we were.” That quote accurately describes mental illnesses and the mental health of humans everywhere. A mental illness can be defined as a health condition that changes a person 's thought process, emotions, behavior, and/or their body. Mental illness causes a person distress and difficulty in functioning and can lead to atrophy. They are ingrained in the wiring of many and they override safety precautions that the brain has set in place against viruses. Mental health issues affect society in many ways, such as identification, treatment, and overall understanding; as a result of this they have been mocked and dismissed for most of history.

The media shows individuals as homeless, crying, dirty, and unintelligent and then puts the label of mental illness to it. Due to this portrayal of mental illness, many American’s have a negative picture in their minds about individuals who have a mental illness. The negative stigma may be because they have not known anyone with mental illness. Individuals may remember a time when mental illness was thought of as the person going insane which is a scary thought for some people. The speaker we had in class painted a picture of her neighbor in a padded room naked with a bucket (Patty S. 2016). This scenario is what comes to the mind of many who think of mental illness. Lack of information and education is the usual culprit for those who believe that mental illness only means insanity and unbearable life conditions.

Unfortunately the stigma that has been placed on person with mental illnesses, serves as the barrier force for what keeps the patients from ever seeking help to correct or alleviate their disease. In their article, The Power of Language and Labels: “The Mentally Ill” Versus “People With Mental Illnesses,” Darcy Haag Granello and Todd A. Gibbs found that, “28% of the U.S. adult population has a diagnosable mental condition, only about 8% of these people actually seek treatment.” Granello and Gibbs identify this low turnout of people as a direct result of Americans low level of tolerance towards mental illnesses, as well as Americans general discomfort with people struck by mental illness, which ends up demonstrating Americans revulsion towards mental illnesses. Humans, being primarily social creatures, depend on social interactions and feelings of connectedness in order to properly assimilate into society. In order to properly assimilate into society, it is imperative that human beings are able to read social cues and establish a sense of social values, when a person discovers that mental illnesses results in negative social cues that person will naturally strive to ensure they are free of mental illnesses – fearing that if someone discovers that they have a mental illness, they too, will

It’s safe to assume that nobody enjoys being diagnosed with an illness. They have to deal with the fear of what comes after and the pain and other terrible things that go along with illness. Most people would not think of stigma when they are diagnosed with an illness, but people with mental illnesses think otherwise. There’s a lot of negative stigma that goes along with mental illnesses. People assume that these people are violent and unstable. When a person is diagnosed with a mental illness he/she not only has to deal with the fear that goes along with it, but he/she must also constantly face all the stigma around it. This has an extremely negative effect on people with mental illnesses. To change this, people need to be made aware of the

When most people hear about mental illness, they automatically think that it is something dangerous. This is because of all the stigma attached to disorders and what is being shown in the media. Most shows and productions portray people with mental illnesses as being crazy and committing acts of violence. Stigma and discrimination make a barrier to diagnosis, treatment, and also to acceptance in the community (Fast Facts about Mental Illness). It can be harder to find a job, because employers believe that hiring someone with a mental illness can lead to workplace violence. Having a mental illness also affects social life at school, as it is easy to be ignored and left out for being different or weird. But when it is thought about, there are

Although it isn’t something that people in society thinks about daily, mental illness is stigmatized all the time. People may think that they don’t think badly about those with mental illness, but those people may be stigmatizing mental illness more than they realize. Recently, there has been a home put into a neighborhood of mine for people with mental illness. Since the neighborhood found out about this home, there were voiced concerns, many with inaccurate information about those with mental illness. Many of the concerns were that these people would would be dangerous, or loud, or that it would make the neighborhood look bad having “crazy people” living on the block. Another example is a time I was in Drum Corps. Drum Corps is like professional marching band, and my corps went to church every Sunday. One particular Sunday, we went to a beautiful church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the service went on, people in my corps noticed a man sitting near us who was talking, rather loudly, to himself about God. It was almost as if he felt he was talking to God. Many of the people around me were making fun of the man, and speaking bad about him, not only during the church service, but throughout the day. They were stigmatizing his mental illness. People fear and shun what they do not know, and therefore stigmatize.

Mental Illness’, have a stigma attached to them unlike physical illness’. People with mental illness’ show behaviors that is unlike what is normally experienced in society and because of that they are considered to be abnormal, and dangerous. The relatively quick and recent rise in the number of mental health cases has also only furthered this gap between what people consider normal and abnormal, simply because the jump was too fast and too unexpected for society to properly understand. Even today, doctors often misdiagnose what a mental illness may be because the human brain is so complex (Jimerson). This lack of understanding from loved ones, coworkers, and family members causes people with mental disorders to experience trouble developing

Mental illness affects people from all walks of life, yet a fierce stigma surrounds it to this day. People are viewed differently once they receive a diagnosis; they might be discriminated against, bullied, or even feared by others. I believe that the biggest contributor towards this stigma is ignorance.

Mental illnesses are not a thing of the past. They are also our present and future.John Q. Adams once said, “Who we are, is who we were.” That quote accurately describes mental illnesses and the mental health of humans everywhere. A mental illness can be defined as a health condition that changes a person 's thought process, emotions, behavior, and/or their body. Mental illness causes a person distress and difficulty in functioning and can lead to atrophy. They are ingrained in the wiring of many and they override safety precautions that the brain has set in place against viruses. Mental health issues have affected society in many ways such as identification, treatment, and overall understanding; as a result of this they have been mocked and dismissed for most of history.

Mental health issues affect more people than many of us think, whether it is our best friends, ourselves, or a random person on the street. I personally don't suffer from anything other the usually anxiety that is common in my age group and our society in general but mental health has always been important to me. Statistics from 2017 show that over 40 million Americans or 1 in 5 have some form of a mental health condition. With so many people living with this, it is important to understand and know the difference between fact and myth when it comes to mental health. There are many misconceptions of mental illness but some specific ones are that people living with it are dangerous, and that there is no form of prevention towards it, but these misconception mostly come from people not knowing what mental health really entitles.

An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older or about one in four adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. With the statistics Society still finds ways to make judgements on how people look or act and sometimes its harmful and it gets worse when it comes to a person who has a psychological disorder. When in fact the people with a psychological disorder don’t know when they are doing something wrong. The mentally ill sometimes don’t know what they are doing or saying. Society automatically assumes that someone who faces a psychological disorder is crazy. Instead of us judging and looking at people who act different society can overcome it by avoiding stereotypes with proper education and understanding, and having the right programs for the people who have a psychological disorder.

Mental illness can’t be seen like a broken bone or a terminal illness. People don’t know how to react to a person with mental illness. People without mental illness don’t understand why the person with the illness doesn’t change the way they action and act “normal”. Some mental illnesses are easier to understand then others, such as depression. Everyone at some point has felt depression. An illness such as schizophrenia is much harder to comprehend. With mental illness there are different severities that can affect the same illness. One person’s illness might not be a sever as someone else diagnosed with the same illness.

It is in natural to feel sympathy for those struggling around us. Whether someone is struggling on schoolwork or contemplating suicide, it is typical to feel pity for their situation. As a result, society works towards helping those who struggle with worse mental health through various resources such as counseling or psychopharmaceuticals. The majority of society believes that treatment for those with mental illness is beneficial to the society. However, Eric G. Wilson, the Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest University and leading expert in the relationships tying literature and psychology, believes that that melancholia is over treated. In this way, he claims that the creativity and freedom of individuals in society is obstructed. Though it is in human nature that people long for happiness, the benefits of struggle are largely ignored by humanity. In this respect, Eric G. Wilson provides a strong argument to his audience, mainly by means of using language, that they should withdraw from their current, excessive treatment of melancholia.

One of the many problems are that when most people think of the word ‘Mental Illness’ they think of a psycho shackled in a mental hospital and misunderstand the person. Unfortunately some parents or people might think similar to this and neglect the person making the illness worse! Even some victims of illness might even think like due to mindset “mental disorders are rare and “happen to someone else."”(Source 1)

Mental illnesses are disorders affecting mood, thinking, and behavior. These disorders cause problems functioning normally in social, work, and/or family activities. In the United States, most people are given brief education in some mental illnesses, such as eating disorders and depression, in their health classes. Nonetheless, the media are influencing people's perceptions of mental illnesses. The misrepresentations of the widely available media fuel the existing stigma associated with mental illnesses and people with mental illnesses.