If the estimates of the World Health Organization1 are to believe (which obviously they are), there are around four hundred fifty people in the world suffering from mental illness. As much as mental illness2 is a global problem, so is the stigma attached to it.
If someone tells us they are suffering from a disease or illness which is related to any part of the body other than the brain, people understand with rationality, they understand the process by which the issue can be resolved, they tell you the precautions you must be taking, recommend the doctors they consider fit, tell you about the relatives who in the past have suffered from the same illness. If you need help, you can check the mental health treatment centers near you.
Things just change the moment the illness is associated to your brain, if that is, that is not an illness, it’s just a temporary moon – swing kind of a thing which would take care of itself if you don’t pay much attention to it and carry on with your life pretending that there is nothing else, and you will eventually feel the illness evaporating from yourself, and you are cured magically.
People don’t recommend psychiatrists3 or ways to fight the mental illness effectively, rather, the option given to you is to pretend it doesn’t exist. And if by any chance you are taking the services of a psychiatrist, you are most likely to be labeled mad and crazy. Yes, that is the level of ignorance and stigma related to mental health in most societies.
The need to talk about mental health
Brain, most importantly a healthy is the most important factor to the existence of a human being, and the development of a human being is the most important factor to the development of society as a whole.
Hence, for the society to function properly and develop properly we need to take care of our mental health and peace of mind4, which can only be possible if we remove the stigma related to mental health, and the most important part of removing the stigma is to talk about it.
- WHO, CONSTITUTION OF. “World health organization.” Air Quality Guidelines for Europe 91 (2020). ↩︎
- Szasz, Thomas S. “The myth of mental illness.” American psychologist 15.2 (1960): 113. ↩︎
- Sartorius, Norman. “Stigma: what can psychiatrists do about it?.” The Lancet 352.9133 (1998): 1058-1059. ↩︎
- Mack, Jennifer W., et al. “Peace of mind and sense of purpose as core existential issues among parents of children with cancer.” Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine 163.6 (2009): 519-524. ↩︎
Last Updated on by Sathi