Why is there still a stigma associated with mental illnesses?

I think a lot of it is just plain misinformation and not understanding exactly what it means to have a mental illness. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen or heard of instances where someone tells someone who's depressed that they just have to choose to be happy and all their problems will be solved. Think on the bright side, you don't have it as bad as so-and-so whose problems are much worse and therefore more real than your own, and let's not forget those who think it's done all for the attention, right? People don't realize exactly how damaging that sort of attitude can be. Personally, I find it very similar to the issues that arise from living with an invisible chronic illness. I've been told by doctors that the pain I feel is all in my head, and that I basically need to suck it up and exercise more. It didn't matter to them that my symptoms get worse with exercise. They couldn't see a physical reason for it, so clearly it was all in my head or I was making it up because I wanted to abuse painkillers. I have issues with people touching me because I'm so sensitive some days. Just the other day, I had someone walk past me and gently touch my back as I was bending over. It was excruciating, and I told him so... and his response was "I barely touched you!" I honestly believe that there's a lot of things that you can't fully understand until you've personally lived through them. Mental illnesses are one of those things. It's easy for someone who's 'normal' to snap out of it, and there seems to be a disconnect between what they know versus what others say they're experiencing. Seems like not a lot of folks know how to put themselves in someone else's shoes, unfortunately. And that's not even touching on how horribly the mentally ill were treated in the past...

Maybe it is because mental illnesses affect our brains and affect all our relationships in ways that illnesses in other parts of our bodies do not. These illnesses may cause bizarre and even dangerous behaviour and are therefore seen as shameful and evil. It is also true that until relatively recently it was not possible to see activity in the brain and our knowledge of how it worked very limited Hopefully things will continue to improve :

People need something to feel better about, and there are two ways to do that. .one is to truly achieve something and feel good about it, and the other is to look down on somebody who is not on par about something. No prizes for guessing which requires less effort. As to diabetes, blah blah..everybody has a close relative of friend or loved one with something or the other like that. But not every person dares to go to psychiatrist. Note what I mentioned. I think everybody EVERYBODY has moments when they feel in dumps and could do with a psychiatrist's help. Some need help, others manage to come out of it because of the right support and environment they are lucky enough to get in time. Either mental illness does not exist or it is more insidious than we give it credit for. We do need to understand the science more - you diagnose it using chemicals x rays and what nots to decide this happens and causes for it to get it classified as a disease. For now treatment is itself not really definite though better than what it was in the past. Another thing people ridicule about is not having children, if you'd noticed. Pancreas can fail, liver can fail, heart can fail, but uterus has no business to fail.

I think it is because those people never put themselves in their shoes. Also a lack of education on the topic.

I do not know the reason, but you are perfectly right, there is no reason to be ashamed to say that they have to see their psychologist. Our head and brain are part of our body exactly as our heart, liver, hands, feet and everything else.

There are a few reasons I think. Some valid, some not so much. But here they are. 1. Some mental illnesses cause violence and make a person dangerous. Unfortunately these few disorders are staining all disorders, mostly because of #2. 2. People that have never experienced a mental disorder simply don't understand what it means to those that do. They watch movies, read books, or hear news of someone with a dangerous mental illness, and think that all mental illness eventually leads there. 3. Because those of us that suffer are ashamed that we are not "normal enough", so we hide it, deny it, refuse to seek help, and constantly put ourselves in destructive situations or behaviors that others see without knowing the reasoning. By the time they find out that there was a problem, all they have to associate with the illness is the bad things we did to ourselves and others trying to hide our shame and fear. Until those that suffer can stand up and demand that media recognizes the difference between depression and psychosis, and explain it better when they are talking about the very few dangerous mental illnesses, until we stop hiding from ourselves and others and get the help we need, the stigma can not be reduced. And it will never be erased entirely, not everyone is strong, and not everyone cares about knowledge, after all.

I have a lot of issues with this very thing. Mental illness has a bad stigma attached because of ignorance and because people feel that those with these issues could go nutzy and blow them up. People don't take enough time to update themselves on mental illness so they are flying blind as it were and think they know all of the answers. I could tell you long, drawn out stories of my and my families experiences. ODD, bi-polar and sever depression Fun.

I think other people don't accept mental illness because they are ignorant of the disease. First people don't accept what they don't understand. If they understood the problems are more than "in your head" they would realize that people needed medical help, therapies, etc. Hopefully, education will help. As for the insurance, they don't want to pay for anything anyway. I think it is just an easy out for them.

Interesting. For one, I have Ulcerative Colitis and now I also have its sister - Arthritis. Going by doctors who are treating me, neither of them is going to leave me. So definitely I have chronic ailments and it all started in 2000. So about 16 years of it already with me. Now to the stigma part - As a patient, I understand that initially when these were new to me, I was ashamed. Not anything stigma per se, but you know, the cramps in the tummy, the frequency/urge to go to the loo - and everyone asking are you all right. And when I mentioned the UC thing, they came up with bizarre things as not many people understand it. It might have been easier if I would have said, Heart Attack, or even Diabetes or even anything like Malaria etc (the ones that are commonly known). Then, one day, I realized that I cannot battle it. I have to adjust, accommodate with it (The UC) and I have been happier since. Agreed, I am jobless - because I do not want to be a burden on a 9-5 job wherein the Employer would either sack me because I spend more time in loo than on desk/even there are days when I cannot go to work - lack of commitment. Or if the employer is understanding, it would be my guilt - he trusts me, and I am unable to deliver on time. That kind of. So I decided not to do any regular job with fixed timings. Now coming to the stigma part - I think in many normal people, it is their own self conscious rather than the society that makes the stigma thing felt. Mental Illness, I do not think any of them ever feel it - they are happy, more honest with their own self. And others around them, I do not think they are worthy of discussion, in case they feel being hit by the stigma. Many normal people have their own limitations and perceptions of viewing things as they want to, not as per what they should.

I can't believe you wrote about this topic! @Jessicalynnt Very nice! Most people wouldn't touch this topic with a ten foot pole! I think it is mostly because the common man doesn't understand what is happening with a person who has a mental illness, so doesn't know that it is okay to treat the mentally ill/disabled like other people because they are still just people. Insurance companies have always tried to get out of paying for anything. They will use anything as an excuse, too!

They are ashamed if known about their mental problem.

There is certainly still a lot of stigma attached to mental conditions. We have several rellies who need help in this way.

its a tricky illness to treat. i dont know about a stigma attached to it, i just never looked at it that way. i know a lot of people who are involved with the county mental health department over here. from administrators to the doctors. the main problem they see is funding for the program and finding ways to help people maintain the help. which is finding ways for them to afford the care they need.

It's a reality that society still don't accept the person with mental illness as a normal individual. We have still a big and strong notion that those having this can mess-up in some ways.

Until and unless people take it as common as an illness like other body parts, the stigma is going to stay here, and due to this secrecy, people sometime make a delay to address such a problem, which further worsen the situation.

The stigma, perpetuated for centuries by books, movies, etc., is so firmly engrained in our collective minds that it's nearly impossible to get away with. There are hundreds of different "mental illnesses," and 99.999% of them are NOT the things that have been portrayed on TV and in movies.

Could it simply be that many people are in some kind of denial, about how common mental disorders are, could it also be that it frightens them to think about it... as' it couldn't possibly affect them or theirs'....~ or could it ~? Brushing it under the carpet, means they don't have to worry or consider, how close we might all be to some occurrence of Mental malfunction, and fear of the unknown is a powerful driver! Any 'Mental'illness, still carries the connotation of Lunacy, from the Medieval Dark Age and as such encounters little sympathy from the public at large....all very sad!

I think it's because we don't want people to think we are mentally incompetent.

you have no idea how people take mental illness here(the place i belong). For them it is nothing less than madness, they consider the sufferer as RETARD! may be it is because of less knowledge or their typical thinking but you are right everybody falls sick it may be mentally or physically and people should try to understand that.

I'm not sure why people have a problem when it comes to talking about mental illness, but until we can talk about it openly there will always be a stigma attached with it. We do one another a disservice when we feel we have to hide what our true emotions are. Your post is great. Thanks for sharing with us.