Stigma of Mental Health
Unfortunately, along with mental health sometimes comes along the stigma of mental health. Stigma is a negative label, and when something is seen with a negative label it can sway someone to disapprove of that. The stigma of mental health often stops people from seeking help for themselves or the ones they love because of several reasons. One is that there is a fear that family, friends or colleagues won’t understand or accept mental health difficulties. There’s also a fear and a misconception that the situation can’t change.
These fears come from stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice in the history of mental health. People have faced difficulties in their interpersonal lives due to their mental health difficulties. But overtime this has decreased as more people have become aware of what mental health is and the importance of seeking help for those difficulties.
The truth of the matter is that about 1 in 6 people around you have gone through a mental health difficulty in their lives in the past week. This is not limited to the adults around you, but to children as well. And studies have shown that the stigma of mental health has a negative impact on people with mental illnesses.
So how can you try to overcome the stigma of mental health? One of our successful cases, show the three ways.
Use of Language
What may seem like a small change has actually a very big impact. Language matters. How someone says something or the words they use to say it is very powerful. So when mental illnesses are used to describe people’s personalities, it reinforces the stigma. And labelling someone as their disorder makes it harder for them to understand that they are not their illness. A person is diagnosed with an illness, they themselves have more to themselves than that. Think of it this way...just like you have water in your body, you’re not 100% water, right?
Educate Yourself and Others
Learn about different mental health illnesses and the difficulties people diagnosed with them have. And then share this information! The negative stigma and discrimination comes from misconceptions about mental health. So let’s change that by teaching people what the facts are. If we speak about it more we can help change how people see and understand mental health - and this will help more people seek out professional guidance on their mental health.
Seek help
As unfortunate as it is, people experience difficulties with their mental health. But this should help you understand that you are not in this alone. There are groups of people out there who are available to support you - be it within your inner circle or support groups and mental health practitioners.
Mental health matters - let’s break the stigma and help each other live happier and healthier lives.
