The monster that attacks mental well-being: Stigma.
BY: Neighbors’ Consejo|
The fear of being stigmatized interferes and prevents people from taking even the necessary first step to seek support from a specialist, tell someone about how they feel, receive treatment or be medicated, because they always think about the “monster” that they must defeat in the eyes of friends and family: the stigma of mental health [1].
It is astounding to see the figures on suicides and not consider the significance of the great “monster” in people’s minds. Think about those who, before having made the dreadful decision to end their own lives, could have received a helping hand, had they just taken the first step of reaching out to someone. Between 2018 and 2020, suicide rates among adolescents have increased by 45% and among Asian-Americans and African-Americans by 40 % [2].
About 60% of people who suffer from a mental illness say that the stigma that surrounds mental health affects them more than their own diagnosed disease. As stated by psychiatrist Goran Račetović: “The most painful consequences are being isolated, which is one of the strongest primordial human beings’ fears, and being disabled in the exercise of fundamental rights [3].”
References
[2] https://khn.org/news/article/pandemic-unveils-growing-suicide-crisis-for-communities-of-color/
[3] https://www.fairplanet.org/story/can-we-talk-about-mental-health-stigmas/