Author Topic: Society's attitude towards mental illness and disorders  (Read 2240 times)

~Ali~

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Society's attitude towards mental illness and disorders
« on: October 19, 2012, 06:23:46 am »
Mental illness of any kind is a very serious problem and more common than it seems to be. It is also a very overlooked aspect to many people. If someone does something that is out of the ordinary, a person assumes they are either stupid or a mean person, even though they could have something wrong with their brains causing them to behave that way.


 Mental illness is often treated differently than a physical illness by society, because you can see something physical. You can't see mental illness. Many famous people have had some sort of disorder, and not many people knew about it. I doubt they would want people to know, because there's such a stigma on it. And I don't think it's right, because it's not something they can help.


 A lot of people have pre-conceived notions. They confuse schizophrenia and disassociative identity disorder. Media does not help this. The mentally ill are also shown as violent, when, in reality, they rarely are. More often than not, they are more of a danger to themselves than others. People assume they can't do things. Such as people saying those with Aspergers Syndrome lack matters or apathy. This attitude passes down to the people affected by these disorders, because they think it's okay to act that way. People also assume that all people with a certain disorder have the exact same problems, or act the exact same way. This is not true. People can not be (figuratively) put into a box.


Those suffering from depression are often told "cheer up" and "snap out of it". They cannot do that. If they could, they would. People say they are lazy, or other insults. A person who has not experienced serious depression would not understand. Severe enough depression can cause actual physical symptoms. Everyday tasks like getting out of bed each day can be extremely difficult, and thinking straight is impossible.


Children can be mentally ill. Yet, even psychologists seem to not be able to look past the fact that children can have other problems besides ADHD. ADHD is over-diagnosed, and has now become "my kid isn't well behaved enough" ...many children diagnosed with it, do not have a problem at all. And many children diagnosed with it, have a serious problem that is overlooked. Children who have mis or un-diagnosed disorders, tend to suffer greatly. Even if they are diagnosed, they may still be miserable. Because children can have Schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder. Usually, a diagnosis of a mental illness early means a lot of work has to be put in to help them grow up to be successful. And it's possible...but not when parents just let them do/say whatever they want.


Even with all this, people still treat those who have problems like these, as if the person themselves is a problem. They are looked upon with scorn and yet they have done nothing wrong. They may have trouble finding jobs. They can't make friends because no one wants to be around someone who is suffering all the time, or acts strangely. Children are cruel to those who are different, and yet the teachers may be indifferent, or even join in to the teasing, because they don't like the child. All because the wiring of their brain. People don't want to consider that others brains work differently, or have a problem that can't be magically fixed.


 What do you think about this issue, and do you think there are ways to help society be more accepting? Why do you think people are so prone to acting that way? Do you think that only people who have experienced certain things can understand? What are your views? I feel this is a serious subject that needs to be talked about, though I prefer this not to become a discussion on medication.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2012, 06:25:32 am by Ali_Abdi »

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Tenebrae

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Re: Society's attitude towards mental illness and disorders
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2012, 07:11:34 am »
Being human is the problem. Best fix is to exterminate the population


People don't generally see how diverse effects can be until they are affected by it. Whether it be directly through personal experience, or indirectly through the suffering of ones close friend or relative.


I guess people just have to think for themselves instead of being brainwashed by the media.

Mariofighter3

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Re: Society's attitude towards mental illness and disorders
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2012, 10:27:24 am »
It's the uneducation of society of these mental illness that makes people push away thoses with them. There is nothing wrong with these people, just a bit stretched limitations and expectations to allow them to live out a normal life.

ArchieSalt

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Re: Society's attitude towards mental illness and disorders
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2012, 11:24:51 am »
I know exactly what you mean. The most commonly used insult in my school is 'spastic' - basically implying that you suffer from a mental illness. Unfortunately they don't understand how those affected by it feel and how differently they have to live their lives.
I have a friend (Currently 19 Years old) who I met through my Mother and her friends and sadly, he suffers from autism. There was a time where I was unaware of his condition and just thought he was an odd person, but I discovered later about his autism.
Through my time knowing him, I've had to deal with several events where he hasn't applied common sense to his actions which can only be blamed on his autism, sometimes I have reacted quite angrily about what he does. However after discovering more about autism. I try to contain my feelings when he accidentally does something that upsets me.

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Re: Society's attitude towards mental illness and disordersh
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, 06:22:18 am »
True

In my school there was a boy named Jordan who had a mild case of terrets and after people found out they started pushing him away excluding him

What I think that is people are always looking to be dominant over others. So they would result to them hurting the people with mental ilness. Or they would think that of they would catch the mental ilness

To tell the truth I also have a mental ilness I won't say that I'm how they feel but I think that even with a mental ilness that we should still accept them as human beings who deserve the same respect as normal people



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Re: Society's attitude towards mental illness and disorders
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2012, 12:39:07 pm »
True, true. Well, I don't have anyone in my school with a mental sickne.... Wait, I do, and although I can still feel sympathy for him,  he still picks on me. And only me. ._. I'm not sure what it is, but he was constantly treated unfairly and cruelly by his parents for being the middle child. So even the parents can push away their child long enough for them to develop a mental illness. Parents, treat your child with discipline, but also with care and love.