Mental Illness and What It Means in Today's World

When looking back through history, the general view on mental illnesses vary greatly from generation to generation. It used to be extremely looked down upon to have a mental illness, and that switched to everyone having a mental illness. In the 19th century there was a huge expansion of insane asylums in the industrialized countries, except they mainly focused on treating morals instead of actual mental illnesses. In the 20th century, we started to see more insane asylums treating disorders and admissions to insane asylums sky rocketed. In the middle of the 20th century, it was extremely common for people to be admitted in the hospital due to mood/personality disorders. Many young women were being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorders, and many different types of Identity Disorders. Hospitals at this time started discovering new ways to treat patients, and it became extremely common to have been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in this time period. Nowadays, hospitalization and mental disorders are glorified in every medium you can find. Media presents mental disorders as something all the celebrities are dabbling in. So many different television shows and movies have been made and are continuing to be made about mental disorders. You think it'd be great that mental disorders are getting the attention they deserve due to the severity of them correct? Well, this is where we are wrong. Mental disorders in the media are seen as equal to any other accessory a person carries, like a watch or a purse. They are never viewed as truly crippling, and are glorified in every sense. We see more and more people claiming to have mental disorders without a doctor's note, and the big problem with this, is that what about the people that actually have these disorders?

Well, since mental disorders are presented as so common since so many people tend to claim they are mentally ill, those who actually receive treatment and are hospitalized are outcasted in a way. They are seen as "weaker" because, I mean, so many people we know seem to have the same disorder but they're coping just fine, right? Wrong. Those who are being treated for mental illnesses are no weaker than someone without. Mental disorders are extremely crippling, which people everywhere are seeming to misunderstand. From schools, to friends, to family, to the media we are seeing mental disorders presented in a way that makes the disorder seem easy to deal with and "not that big of an issue." This is extremely bad because of the people who do have mental disorders, their disorder is being shown as something that so many people have and they are able to deal with it so much better and cope way easier with it. The person with the mental disorder is going to feel self conscious about the fact that they have to receive treatment, and are suffering so much from something that everyone else seems to be doing fine with. Not only is this unfair, but it is wrong. No one should be discriminated against just because they are diagnosed with a disease. No one should claim that they have a disease when they are not clinically diagnosed, because it can cause a wide array of issues. No one should look down on someone who has a mental illness, and no one should ever think that someone else is weak for suffering from a mental illness. Treatment and hospitalization should be seen as a good thing, since it can really help people get through their disorders.

Very few people could ever tell me that in their entire lifetimes, they have never known someone with a mental illness. They are so widespread, but because of all the negative connotation that comes with not being able to cope 100% with your disorder, people may just not know what someone else is suffering. People suffering from mental illnesses should not have to hide a huge part of their lives, because a lot of the time, every activity is surrounding that illness, and it becomes such a huge part of that person's life that every decision revolves around it. Then there are people blindly claiming they have certain diseases. This is so wrong on so many levels because no one wants to be dependent on medication or treatment to get through each day without their disease taking over. People who are not diagnosed should either see their doctor if they are concerned, or not say a word because this really truly affects those who are suffering from the illness. Self diagnosis of illnesses are so common nowadays with the new technology that has us list our symptoms and pops out a few diseases that you may or may not suffer from.

Mental illnesses are not something to joke about at all. They are to be taken just as seriously as any other disease. I know this is common, but I need to emphasize how important this next sentence is: "You wouldn't tell someone with cancer to 'just get over it,' so why would you say that to someone suffering from depression?" Depression is just one example of an illness that effects a wide variety of people, and also a common illness that many people like to identify with. Personally, I have no knowledge as to why someone would diagnose themselves with a disease without actually getting word from a doctor, but it happens all the time. This leads to people viewing the disease as something you can "just get over" since so many people seem to be able to. Now, those who really struggle with the illness, are afraid to tell people about their illness, and sometimes are even afraid to seek out treatment. They feel "different" because they can't just get over the illness. What a lot of people don't seem to understand is that dealing with a mental illness is not correctly portrayed in the media. The media never shows how much of a mental toll an illness can take on someone, the media displays mental illness as, for lack of a better term, a "cool" thing to go through. Reality, however, is much different.

Basically, mental illnesses need to start to be taken much more seriously, and definitely not looked down upon. They are more common than we think. Many people do not advertise their illness, so we never know who is actually suffering from what. Glorifying mental illness is actually very harmful, and it really makes mental illnesses not receive the serious attention that they need.

I feel like this needed to be said because the topic of mental illness in a serious tone is almost taboo, especially in the educational setting, even though most people have been affected by mental illnesses in one form or another. Really, what I'm trying to emphasize with this post, is the severity of mental illnesses. They should not be taken lightly.