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Savannah Logan

Professor Kelsey Helveston

UWRT 1102-010

3 April 2017

Mental Health in the United States

The mental health stigma in the United States is a reoccurring issue throughout time.

Mental illnesses have been used as an adjective for as long as they have been around. Along with

that, many symptoms of mental illnesses are constantly ignored. No matter how far as society

progresses through time, there is always going to be some sort of stigma attached to mental

health related diseases. Ten percent of teenagers have anxiety and forty percent of adults have

some sort of mental disorder (11 Facts). Not only are mental disorders often ignored, but they

are ridiculed for not being as much of a fact than a real physiological disease than anxiety or

depression. Depression is often ignored because people refuse to accept it as a real disease. In

2014, 2.8 million teenagers had some sort of depressive episode (Teen Help).

Mental illnesses have always been looked down on because others can physically see

what is going through the affected persons head. Sarah Caddick says its hard for most people to

talk about their own mental health issues because when someone points to his wrist to tell you

its broken, you can easily understand the problem, but thats not the case when the issue is with

the three-pound mass hidden inside someones skull (Ha). The general public isnt educated on

mental diseases and the signs and symptoms of them. Many people correlate violence with

mental illness. In the article How Should We Talk About Mental Health, Caddick talks about

how with major incidents like Columbine the media often asks if the offender suffers from
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some sort of mental illness. Thus, the public associates every individual with the same illness as

a violent person (Ha).

From a clinical psychologists point of view, Mike Friedman feels as though there is quite

a bit of social distancing from those affected by mental disorders and pretty much everyone else.

In his article, The Stigma of Mental Illness is Making Us Sicker, he talks about how even some

mental health professionals practice social distancing from suffers of mental illnesses. He brings

up a point that many people, since early adolescent years, have thought that people with mental

illnesses are more likely to be dangerous and violent. People have some sort of idea in their

heads that people with disorders are sort of unhinged in a sense. Friedman talks about how

adequate funding for research isnt being received for the amount that is being used for the cost

of mental disorders, whether the cost is brought on by disability due to not being able to work or

other circumstances related to mental illnesses. Friedman says that 60% of the 450 million

people worldwide are not receiving treatment for their mental disorders even though 90% of

sufferers not receiving care are in developed countries (The Stigma of).

Mental institutions are a common method of treatment if the illness is of a certain caliber.

Many government agencies fund, or used to fund psychiatric hospitals throughout time, but

many government agencies cut the funding after finding out about abuse within the hospitals.

Instead of figuring out a solution for the problem or helping those that were being harmed, they

simply pulled the funding for the hospitals. Some forms of abuse that are still ignored to this day

include over medication, misdiagnosis, and being labeled for life (Top 10). With the negative

stigma attached to psychiatric hospitals, its nearly impossible for individuals to feel safe seeking

a refuge at a mental institution.

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A great way to increase production and thus increase your profit is to boost the morale of

the workers. Marissa Horn says that if people would invest in mental health treatment for their

employees, then the profits could quadruple. For every dollar spent on mental health, according

to Horn, businesses could increase their profit three-fold in productivity. From 1990 to 2013 the

number of people suffering from major mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, has

increased by 50%. Horn states that to make an effective difference in the mental health of

employees, around 147 billion dollars would need to be invested. Horn also concludes that

although there would be a significant cost to increase productivity, it would have a substantial

profit of just under 400 billion dollars, with a 310 million dollar added in returns to global

economies (Horn).

Mental health is a big deal. People acknowledge that there are huge issues within the

United States mental health care agencies and the stigma surrounding them but they refuse to

come up with some sort of solution to help the underlying issue at hand. Time and time again its

seen that people want to think they are helping but they are not. No one wants to take

responsibility for the corrupt mental health care system, but its not just one persons fault. Its

everyones fault but no one seems to want to help the people who cant even help themselves. No

one is taking a stance to help the people who have crippling depression and are laid up in bed

trying their very best to even go brush their teeth. No one is standing up for the girl in the back of

the class thinking that everyone is going to stare at her just because she wants to go throw away a

piece of garbage.

Mental health issues are something that many people struggle with at some point in their

life. 6.7% of the US population 18 and older are affected by depression annually, that is the

equivalent of 15 million people in the United Sates (Facts and Statistics). Ha states that nearly
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all mental health experts that they spoke with quickly stated that mental health slang, things like

crazy or schizo, are stigmatizing nicknames that are embedded in peoples minds from a

young age (Ha). There are many benefits to changing the way people think about mental health

issues. If social distancing was lessened, many people with mental health issues would be able to

better adapt to a normal life, with the help of other people. If funding for mental health research

were matched with the price that is being used to essentially pay for mental disorders, then

treatment methods could possibly increase, thus increasing productivity in the future. To greatly

improve the productivity of ones company, one must increase company morale. Finally, the last

thing to help reform the mental health system in the United States is to reform psychiatric

hospitals. Funding is often cut, but institutions such as these are often a form of treatment. Issues

such as over medication, misdiagnosis, and being labeled for life are huge issues within the

hospitals. Changing all of these things could potentially reform the entire mental healthcare

system in the Unites States for the better.

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Works Cited:

11 Facts About Anxiety. DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change,

www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-anxiety. Accessed 9 Feb. 2017.

Facts & Statistics. Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA, Aug. 2016,

www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

Friedman, Michael. The Stigma of Mental Illness Is Making Us Sicker. Psychology Today, 13 May

2014, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brick-brick/201405/the-stigma-mental-illness-is-making-

us-sicker. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017.

Ha, Thu-Huong. How Should We Talk about Mental Health? Ideas.ted.com, Ted, 3 Jan. 2016,

ideas.ted.com/how-should-we-talk-about-mental-health/. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

Horn, Marissa. WHO: Better Mental Health Care Means a Better Economy. USA Today, Gannett

Satellite Information Network, 12 Apr. 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/04/12/who-

better-mental-health-care-means-better-economy/82940732/. Accessed 1 Apr. 2017.

States: A Systematic Literature Review. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, U.S. National

Library of Medicine, Sept. 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3835659/ Accessed

23 Mar. 2017.

Teen Help. Teen Depression Statistics & Facts. Teen Help, 9 Feb. 2016, www.teenhelp.com/teen-

depression/teen-depression-statistics/.

Top 10 Forms of Psychiatric Institution Abuse. CCHR International, 16 Sept. 2015,

www.cchrint.org/2014/11/13/top-10-forms-of-psychiatric-institution-abuse/. Accessed 1 Apr.

2017.