Minh Thi Nguyen

UWRT 1103 First Draft

Mental Illness Stigma

In recent times, mental illness has become an important topic in today’s society. A stigma

has developed discriminating those who have a “condition”. Ableism is defined as the the

prejudice against the disabled, whether it be physically or mentally. Some people do not tell

others about their condition in fear of being looked down upon or being called attention whores.

Many people have been denied jobs or have been socially ostracized for being “too unstable”.

But why does this stigma exist? Why do we have a negative attitude towards those who suffer

from mental illness and what does it reveal about us as a society? Mental illness has been

stigmatized because of the media, cultural expectations, and because people are afraid of what’s

different. These factors can be detrimental to a student’s performance in school as the stigma can

stress them out even more than they already are. I believe that these issues can be addressed by

educational officials

The media plays a large role in influencing the general public. In this era of technology,

mass media is our primary source of information. Mental illness is portrayed negatively more

often than not and is often portrayed inaccurately. In popular forms of media such as films and

news reports, violent criminals have been linked to mental illnesses by being labeled as

“schizophrenic” and “lunatics”. In fact, over 40% of news reports about mental illness have some

relation to violence towards other. Often in these stories there is no context provided on the

mental illness . As such, people associate mental illness with violence, instability and lack of
self-control. This viewpoint is unjustified as mental illness is a factor in only 4% of violence in

the United States.

Another reason why mental illness is looked down upon is because of cultural

expectations. In many Asian cultures, self-control, doing beyond your best, and filial piety are

held in high regard. These expectations can prove to be difficult to live up to, especially for

individuals with mental illness. In these cultures, mental illness is seen as a source of shame.

Admitting to having a mental illness implies that one is not trying to the best of their abilities and

due to personal experience, being lazy. The importance of saving face is also an important factor

in why many people are afraid to come out as they do not want to embarrass their family. I have

been told by my family multiple times to keep my anxiety attacks under control so that people do

not think that I have a terrible home life. The social pressure alongside caused me to develop a

perfectionist streak. I feel like I have to do well in my studies to convince my family that I am

worth something. As a result, my levels of anxiety have risen and this has caused me

unnecessary stress. As students, we are expected to remain calm throughout our lectures and not

cause disturbances.

Over the course of history, humans have shown a negative opinion towards anything that

is considered to be outside of the norm. For example in the early 20th century, many men were

upset about the idea of women voting because it was believed back then that a woman’s place

was at home. This attitude also extended towards mental disorders. In the Middle Ages, mental

illness was seen as a form of demonic possession and punishment from God. The mentally ill

would either be burned at the stake or incarcerated. Although we do not punish the mentally ill in

such severe ways anymore, there is still evidence that the stigma still exists and discriminates
those who are different. When I was in 6th grade, my little brother and I were diagnosed with

high-functioning autism and Asperger’s respectively. Later on in my life, I began to develop

anxiety. We kept quiet about it and not many people seemed to mind or notice. However, there

were times where we were treated differently for not being “normal”. Many of these times

occurred in school. In the United States, one in five children suffer from mental health issues and

more often than not, they do not receive the help that they need. As mentioned earlier, many

people view admitting to a mental illness as an excuse for not doing well or to a jerk. Another

issue is that students are not always supervised in the hallways. This allows them to enforce the

stigma whenever teachers are not looking. One way to fix this issue is to have the teacher be

informed about a student’s condition and to have them close to the student at all times. I

remember that in my senior year of high school, despite my best efforts to keep calm, I had an

anxiety attack in the middle of one of my classes. I was aware that I was causing a disturbance in

class so I agreed to go to the counselor's office. However, after that incident, my classmates

began mocking me and talking behind my back. It even got to the point where they would try to

provoke me just to get a response. In fourth grade, many of my former friends would bully me

for being a “freak’ and it had gotten so bad that I began skipping school to get away from it. This

caused my grades to drop significantly and . When my brother was in 6th grade, several of his

classmates convinced him to crawl under a box. Once he did, they immediately sat on it and

laughed because they knew he wouldn’t fight back. Similarly, because of my brother’s condition,

he is very sensitive to loud noises. One day, one of his classmates was being loud so my brother

told him to be quiet. As a result, said classmate hit him. Learning this news was devastating

because he is mostly non confrontational and all of his teachers were aware of his condition and
most likely told the other students about it too. Teachers are supposed to ensure that school is a

safe learning environment for each student. So why does this bullying continue? Is it because

some students won’t fight back? Is it to belittle them? Many officials at school are able to aid

these students but lack the resources and information to do so.

The main purpose of this essay was to discuss possible reasons why the mental health

stigma still exists. The three main reasons why are because of the media, cultural expectations,

and because people fear what’s different. I believe that this inquiry is important because as

human beings in the 21st century, we should be able to understand where the stigma against

mental illness is coming from so we can prevent it in future generations. I plan to use this to

further understand the effects of the stigma on people and how it affects their performance in

education.
 Works Cited

Saks, Elyn. “Why Is Mental Illness Still So Stigmatized?” ​The Huffington Post​,

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Jan. 2011,

www.huffingtonpost.com/elyn-saks/post_1603_b_811249.html​.

Friedman, Michael. “The Stigma of Mental Illness Is Making Us Sicker.” ​Psychology Today​, Sussex

Publishers, 13 May 2014,

www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brick-brick/201405/the-stigma-mental-illness-is-making-us-sicker​.

“Unite For Sight.” ​Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health​,

www.uniteforsight.org/mental-health/module7​.

“Most Violent Crimes Are Wrongly Linked to Mental Illness.” ​Time​, Time,

time.com/4358295/violent-crimes-mental-illness/.