Why we shouldn’t shame mental illness.
I feel this is pretty obvious, why should we shame mental illness? In fact, why should we really shame anything? Why can’t we just live in a world free of judgment and shame? Well according to most sources, most judgment and shame emerges from personal feelings, such as self judgment or esteem issues from within that person themselves. They feel negative towards themselves, so they project onto others. This is where the problem starts. We shouldn’t be ashamed of anything. In my opinion, we should be free to live in a judgment free world and do what we want (to a legal and safe extent) and be able to be happy with it. Mental illnesses are one of the most judged things in the world. Here’s a few reasons why we shouldn’t judge them.
Nearly everyone is a victim to mental illness.
A small percentage of the population actually get to live a life with zero mental illness. Even if you don’t go get diagnosed or medicated, you still have it. Like I said, there are very few people that have absolutely nothing up with them mentally, which is exactly why it shouldn’t be so judged. If it’s so common, why is it so judged? We should understand where each other are coming from rather than jump on the judgment wagon. I wasn’t diagnosed with my first mental illness until I was about 14, but I have struggled nearly my whole life. All the judgment and stigma has done nothing but bring shame upon myself and delay treatment. It took me months to ask for help due to personal reasons mixed with pure shame brought on by society. I didn’t want to be seen as “mentally ill” by anyone because I swore it was a terrible thing, but it’s not. The reality is, it never has been. We shouldn’t judge what so many people suffer from. This just separates society more in a place where we should be bonded and there for each other.
It brings shame and embarrassment to the person struggling, delaying treatment and help.
Like I said in my last paragraph, it took me a while to finally reach out, even when I really needed it. This was because of a mix of things. My personal illness enabled a fear of doctors that mixed with the shame of society, causing me to hide and cower. I am forever grateful that I was able to overcome both these things and get the help I now realize I truly needed. Treatment saved my life and I will never deny that. When we shame someone it makes them embarrassed, causing them to go silent and not reach out. The more they keep to themselves the worse they can get. Mental health can very quickly decline. We shouldn’t delay others’ treatment at all but we do when we shame them. You may not think your words matter, but they do, especially when that person is already struggling and vulnerable enough. Your reaction and voice matters.
It creates stigma.
Shame creates an unnecessary amount of stigma around the subject. Mental illness is not something that has room for any more stigma, it truly has enough. Stigma does nothing but delay treatment, shame people who suffer, create barriers between people and society, and more damaging things. Stigma is dangerous in this instance. Stigma can delay people’s treatment much like shame and for certain situations this can quickly become literal life or death. For example, if someone has deep mental illness or suicidal tendencies, it can be fatal.
Mental illness needs to be normalized.
It’s a fact that mental illness needs to be normalized. It’s something that’s so common, it already should be, but for whatever reason, it isn’t, and that’s a problem. It’s not only common but it’s completely okay. It’s okay to struggle and need help. It is okay to be “different” than others. There’s a lot of things in this world that need to be normalized and mental illness is within the top 5. All the shame and stigma surrounding it is nothing but dangerous and harmful for everyone. If mental illness was more normalized it would help so many people out. It would help the people themselves and their friends/families. If mental illness was more normalized it could answer so many questions for so many people. It could enable a better life for pretty much everyone. The fact that it’s so common is another huge reason it needs to be normalized, it would help thousands upon thousands.
Shame as a whole needs to go.
Honestly, as I write this I realize we need to just remove shame as a whole. Yes, mental illness shouldn’t be shamed but honestly what should be? I believe shame as a whole needs to go away. We should be able to live freely in society without the worry of others. So many suffer from self judgment already, why should we add to that? Yes, some things shouldn’t be normalized and sometimes people need to learn but there’s other ways besides shame. There’s things such as treatment and therapies to help people who need to stop doing something. For example, alcoholics shouldn’t be shamed but instead, should seek treatment. Have you ever seen shame take the bottle out of someone’s hand? Or the illness out of someone’s head? That’s what I thought. Shame alone does nothing, absolutely nothing and people need to realize this. There are better ways out there and we need to utilize them.
Mental health is health and should be treated that way.
