Page 25 - Cornice Grade 8

Mental Health

The stigma around Mental Illness

l Manyata Neupane l

The world today is in a state of something to be embarrassed
panic because of all the prob- about. Although today, there is
lems and difficulties people are more awareness about mental
facing. On top of the global health and mental illness, the
pandemic we are fighting, other stigma around it is still preva-
issues such as pollution, global lent. People with mental illness
warming, poverty, religious already suffer from harsh, gru-
conflicts, political polarization eling, and torturesome symp-
and unrest, natural disasters, toms, and on top of that, they
and humanitarian crises in also suffer because of the preju-
many countries still continue dice against mental instabil-
to wreak havoc in our world. ity. Most of the time, because
Divorce rates continue to grow people are unaware they dis-
and more families break apart miss their symptoms as “being
every day. Children, adults, and older people all lazy” or “being moody” or just “being too sensi-
suffer because of one thing or another. There are tive and weak” and they dismiss others’ symp-
many things in today’s world that can contribute toms too. In more noticeable illnesses such as
to mental illnesses, like trauma, stress, abuse, un- Autism, Tourette syndrome, Dissociative Iden-
favorable life experiences or even just hereditary tity Disorder, OCD, ADHD, etc, people are de-
factors or physical health issues. There are a lot graded as being “stupid” “disruptive” “slow” “cra-
of factors in a person’s life that can affect their zy” and other hurtful terms. Even the fact that
mental health. Recent studies and surveys have someone can be mentally unhealthy is still heav-
shown that every 1 in 5 people suffer from men- ily debated. In today’s day and age, where chil-
tal illnesses. With ev- dren are under much
erything going on to- In today’s day and age, where children are pressure from their
day, staying calm and under much pressure from their parents parents and where they
healthy can be very and where they are having to spend their are having to spend
difficult, which is why entire childhood within the four walls of their entire childhood
understanding more their houses, devoid of much human inter- within the four walls
about mental health is action, illnesses such as depression, anxi- of their houses, devoid
very important. ety, etc have become much more common of much human inter-
and this issue of the stigma around mental action, illnesses such
Mental health is no health has become much more clear. as depression, anxi-
different from physi- ety, etc have become
cal health. It plays a big role in how we perform much more common and this issue of the stigma
in life, and even bigger roles in how we feel and around mental health has become much more
identify emotions, control our body, and think. clear.
Over the past decades, discussion on Mental
health was heavily looked down upon. Even now More than 20% of the world’s population is diag-
there is a stigma around mental illness, which is nosed with mental illnesses and so many more
why it isn’t looked like a disease but instead as go undiagnosed. Yet people don’t understand