Despite growing efforts at awareness, publicity, and normalization of stigma surrounding mental health, the battle toward acceptance of many mental health issues continues. For example, many celebrities, such as Demi Lovato, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michael Phelps, and Lady Gaga have publicly shared their stories of mental health issues, bringing the discussion much more into the general media and everyday conversation. Not to mention, the effects the pandemic created and exacerbated on our mental health has, thankfully, created more opportunities and forums for discussions surrounding anxiety, depression, and other mental health needs that have skyrocketed among all age groups, particularly adolescents.
Still, in many communities and cultures, seeking help for or discussing mental health issues is considered taboo or a sign of ‘weakness’ or abnormality. However, when an estimated 46.2% of our population reports having a mental health-related problem, at what point does it become typical and acceptable to us?
The answer is with incremental and staunch advocacy of mental health needs throughout various aspects of our communities, workplaces, families, and educational institutions. Here are some ways in which we can restructure our approach to de-stigmatization of mental illness:
Shift perspectives: Poor depictions of mental health issues in life and entertainment are widespread and cause negative perceptions of mental health. There is a litany of examples from movies, tv, social media, books, and more that contribute to this negative perception. One way to start shifting perspectives is to provide all employees with mental health literacy training to help them learn how to recognize mental health challenges in the workplace to counter stigma and negative stereotypes. We also need to teach organizational management and executives to recognize signs of distress related to mental health in the workplace and provide support and actionable resources.
Another way is to educate yourself and others and respond to misperceptions or negative comments by sharing facts and experiences of your own. And lastly, let the media know when they are using stigmatizing language or presenting stories of mental illness in a stigmatizing way.
Eliminate discriminatory behavior: Advocacy surrounding specific issues, such as mental illness, can significantly limit the opportunities for discriminatory behavior either through social pressure or legislation. Some ways to alleviate stigma through action and advocacy are to commit to using non-stigmatizing language across environments (i.e., quit using terms like “crazy” or “addict,” all of which make it difficult to separate the individual from the illness), include neurodiversity in workplace training, and place value on psychological safety, which occurs when people feel comfortable both bringing their authentic selves to work and speaking up about concerns without fear of retribution.
Treat mental and physical health needs equally: Oftentimes, mental health issues are invisible. Compared to disabilities or physical health concerns that are immediately apparent to others, this can lead to skepticism, invalidation, and minimization. That’s why it’s so important to create an environment across communities and cultures where it’s just as ‘normal’ to seek help for a mental health issue such as anxiety or depression as it does for a broken ankle or chronic cough.
It’s time to start being honest about mental health treatment just like other health care treatments. This should, in turn, create more coverage for mental health needs on employer health care plans. Currently, mental and behavioral health is considered a separate category of coverage on most insurance plans and oftentimes not offered coverage that is nearly as comprehensive or fair. Mental health professionals have to demonstrate ‘medical necessity’ in order to receive payment from insurance companies, which is a higher standard than other healthcare providers, and it discourages many mental health professionals from accepting insurance altogether.
It’s up to us: Everyone in each community has a role to play in eliminating the stigma of mental illness.
Here are some ways, in addition to those listed above, that you can start advocating for mental health:
- Learn the facts about mental illness and share them with family, friends, work colleagues, and classmates.
- Get to know people with personal experiences of mental illness so you learn to see them for the person they are rather than their illness.
- Don’t judge, label, or discriminate when you meet people with a mental illness.
- Avoid using language that puts the illness first and the person second. Say a person with bipolar disorder rather than ‘that person is bipolar’.
- Say something when people make stereotypical or inaccurate comments about mental illness.
- Share your own experience of mental illness (if you have experienced it) to help dispel myths and encourage others to do the same.
Ultimately, mental illness is not something to be shameful of or that needs to be hidden. Let’s start by encouraging open communication and the sharing of each of our own personal stories to eliminate the feeling of isolation and shame that so many with mental illness experience. Instead of judging, discriminating, and being fearful of mental illness, we need to learn to show compassion for those with mental illness just as we would those with cancer, diabetes, or autoimmune diseases. Choose to feel empowered over shameful because of who you are and fight mental illness stigma by refusing to allow others to dictate how you view yourself.