Why is there such a a stigma attached to mental health?!

I would think that mostly it is because there is so little understanding in the world about mental health and mental diseases. What we don't understand, we fear. also, there are movies such as the old "One Who Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" that keep the general population scared of what mental health really is. They picture some crazy person who cackles, hears voices, kills because the voices told them to, eats only the purple crayon and that sort of thing. It is not shown as a condition that is treatable, in most cases, and though I don't know if it is actually curable (lots of controversy on that too) there are ways to control it. I suppose if you asked 100 people you might get 100 different answers to your question though. I think it is mostly the misunderstanding of it as well as the fear of it though. Good luck with your assignment and I hope some of the input you get really helps you with it. Health Question & Answer

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Strictly speaking mental health problems are caused in the brain and merely present through mental problems.
In other words it is the same as having a brain tumour or cancer.

The reason that there is a stigma is simple. The media and society has perpetuated the stigma for years. If you have a mental health problem then you are crazy, mad or insane.
I've lived with bipolar, borderline and PTSD for years. I've learnt to be very careful who I tell.Health Question & Answer

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I think in todays world everybody is trying to strive for perfection and setting very high (and sometimes unrealistic) goals, people want to seem in control and like they can cope with everything life throws at them. They may see having a mental health problem as 'being weak' and something to be ashamed of if they can't control it.Health Question & Answer

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Its not mental health that has a stigma attached to it, its a lack of it as such. People who have severe depression, who are suicidal and feel low a lot of the time. As a society we are not very accepting of difference, we do not accept deformed people, people with certain types of disabilities, and also gay people. Its easy to pretend that society does accept difference but this is not true, only certain people do. Councellors for example. Depression is something people do not want to talk about because it is negative and makes other people feel unhappy. Suicide frightens people, the idea that people can decide not to live any longer. Its terrifying but true. People who are depressed are so because they think too much about the negative aspects of their lives, stress over things and do not appreciate fun and enjoyment. Simple fun is good for all of us. Depression is often brought on by an upset of some kind - heartbreak, loosing friends etc. Depression is a sign of human ignorance, the fact that we waste our time being reliant on farse to be happy such as infatuation. We depress ourselves by being stupid and not realizing that life is not as simple as it seems. We are all conditioned into believing that men are attracted to women and vice versas. Yes but there are same sex relations nowadays and also people who feel no physical attraction at all. This tells us that things are not just black and white and neither is depression - its self -inflicted in all cases - this is why there is such a stigma. People are starting to learn things and awaken to the truth.Health Question & Answer

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Most people think that because not everybody has it that it must be because they aren't controling themselves. They don't realize that it is something very real and people can't control it. For the most part it's because back in the days when you didn't act normal like everybody else they would put you in an institiution and lock you away. People still have that same attitude today and are made to feel ashamed of something they have no control over. Health Question & Answer

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many reasons:
there is a fear it is contagious, some people think the person with the disease did something to deserve it, most people dondon'tderstand the diseases involved. people with mental diseases are sometimes unpredicatable, but not always dangerous. it has gotten a very bad name by people who abuse the phrase and claim to be mentally unstable to try to not pay for their crimes, so now a lot of times unstable/sick/mental defect = murderer or rapist.
i hope this gets the ball rolling for you. you can email me if you need more help. owagit@aol.com
put yahoo answers in sub line so i dont delete you. Health Question & Answer

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Its a brain disease. That should be good enough to know how bad of an illness it is. Instead, its not, and people dont believe anything mentally is wrong because they cant see, like physically, an illness in the person. they think its just something u can cure by acting different or doing other things one way. I have schizo-affective disorder and omg! people think i automattically see stuff all the time, dont know whats real, think i wanna kil them, and are scared cuz of my twitching and stuff. its really stupid. sorry to rant but yeah.Health Question & Answer

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