Preston Evans
02/23/14
The Stigmatization of Mental Illness
Mental disorders: an estimated 57.7 million people in the U.S. suffer from them every day. These people are not only discriminated against and not given equal opportunities as their mentally healthy counterparts, but they also suffer from abnormal mood patterns, eating habits, and, in extreme cases, the inability to communicate thoughts or ideas with those around them. A multitude of people with mental disorders struggle with day to day activities that many of us take for granted. As such, society should not further stigmatize or marginalize those with mental disabilities, but rather strive to become more understanding and aware of how to help them.
That mental disorders have adopted this negative connotation with most of society serves only to hinder the progress and help that is offered by therapy and regular doctoral visits. According to the United Nations’ World Health Organization, global mental health care facilities offer the mentally ill poor quality care that often hinders their recovery. As a result, the mentally unstable receive worse care than “normal” people even though they pay higher premiums on their medical insurance. The WHO’s Mental Health Policy Coordinator Michelle Funk said in an interview with Voice of America that those living in mental health facilities face “high levels of abuse and violence,” and that they often receive “degrading treatment.”
For example, many facilities will overmedicate patients in order to keep them docile. As if zombifying your own patients wasn’t enough, they can also be locked in cells or put in restraints for days (and in certain cases, months) without food, water, or human contact. Funk also points out that these violations “are not restricted to inpatient and residential facilities,” as many who seek outpatient or community help are treated with contempt and often denied their basic rights to receive medical aid. For instance, in her article “When Doctors Discriminate,” Juliann Garey claims that she was refused medical aid twice because of the prescription cocktail she took for her bipolar disorder. Garey further professes that when it is revealed that she has a mental illness, “it wipes clean the rest of my résumé, my education, my accomplishments.”
Studies done by the WHO demonstrate that Garey is not the only mentally ill patient to have been reduced to a diagnosis. The human rights violations are numerous and astonishing, if not disturbing, especially when considering these health workers are supposed to be providing medical care and support for these poor souls. This dehumanization and marginalization needs to stop, people’s lives and good health depend on it.
Aside from this “hidden” human rights crisis, the stereotypes, stigmas, and discrimination associated with “unsatisfactory” mental health have led to dire consequences in our society. Many people fear that their insurance will become more costly, they will be stripped of basic medical needs, or will be viewed by neighbors and friends with newfound contempt if diagnosed with a mental condition. The unfortunate truth is that they probably will. As a result, they stop seeking the help they need. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, reports that only 39% of those with serious mental illnesses in the United States sought and received actual mental health services in 2010. According to NAMI, a sizeable portion of those who required the most support (those with an illness that that affected one’s ability to function normally day to day) still did not receive adequate care due to high costs or a strong refusal to seek help.
What’s more, the number of people who reject the idea of getting help has been rising in recent years; however, progressions in medicine have allowed for treatment by taking a daily prescription in place of therapy. As this method is more discreet, the use of medication to combat mental disorders has increased drastically while the use of therapy has declined to only 7%. Unfortunately, these prescriptions are written out and given away fairly easily and quickly in today’s fast-paced culture. As a result, there is a dangerous rise in the number of people who abuse these prescription drugs.
Furthermore, untreated mental illnesses can often lead to suicide. Suicide has become one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., just behind cardiovascular disease. Suicide rates have been steadily increasing since the year 2000, and, according to NAMI, over 90 percent of people who commit suicide have been diagnosed with a mental illness. What’s scary is that more than one in three of these victims were intoxicated, usually by their own medicine or other prescription drugs they bought illegally, when they died. As a point of masculine pride and retaining the societal norms set for them by previous generations, men generally reject help more often than women. As a result, males tend to go untreated more often than women. Consequentially, men are also four times more likely to commit suicide than women.
Perhaps if these people had been getting the proper treatment and care they deserved, they would not have to resort to such drastic measures. Furthermore, these are very real risks with very real solutions in our society. We need to take a step back and realize that helping these people, rather than discriminating against them and viewing them with disdain, will yield more benefits and well-being for all of society as well as help to solve some pressing issues such as suicide and prescription abuse.