How mental health stigmas affect young adults struggling with mental illness
According to researchers, the prevalence of mental health disorders in young adults increased significantly between the mid-2000s and late 2010s. Despite this rise, there is a significant number of people who do not receive any treatment. Some medical and educational professionals attribute this to the existence of certain stigmas surrounding mental health.
Factors that impact mental health
Dr. Jenev Caddell, a psychologist in New Hampshire, discussed the many factors that can contribute to an individual developing a mental illness.
“Trauma, a toxic society, systemic oppression, basic needs not being met in childhood, coupled with a genetic predisposition can all contribute to the development of mental illness,” wrote Caddell in an email.
In addition, there are other aspects of everyday life that can affect one’s mental wellbeing. Markie Pasternak is a senior manager of higher education at Active Minds, which is a nonprofit that works to promote young adult mental health. She explained that mental health has multiple dimensions to it such as physical health, financial welfare, career and occupational wellness, and the environment.
Mental health stigmas
The word stigma originates from stigmata which means a mark of shame. Pasternak explained that when an individual seeks help from a medical professional, labeling is an important part of the diagnosing process. Proper labeling ensures that patients will receive the correct method of treatment, whether it be prescribed medications, cognitive behavior therapy, exposure therapy, or other available forms of treatment.
However, Pasternak said that the problem with mental illness labels is that they can perpetuate both public and self-stigmas. Public stigma refers to how other people perceive you after you have been diagnosed.
“I would say more adults are stigmatized,” said Sheila Skinner, the nurse manager of the psychiatric unit at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre, New York. “In the past, families would hide the person or family [member] that had any psychiatric disorder and I think it still happens today. People are afraid to seek help, especially if they’re working, or they don’t want to recognize that there is a mental illness because society makes them feel less [worthy].”
Some might say that: someone with OCD is very clean; someone with depression is lazy; someone with schizophrenia is crazy; or someone with bipolar disorder is moody. These are generalizations about mental illness that all have negative connotations.
“We’re assigning them negative personality traits instead of saying this is a disorder and this person is getting treatment to help with these things,” Pasternak said. “Stigmas come from people trying to make sense of these labels that were created for good, but [instead] are being used in a harmful way to put people with mental illnesses in a box.”
Pasternak emphasized the importance of not treating a person with mental illnesses like they are their disorder, but rather as an individual who lives with a particular condition. Treating someone as their condition by assigning negative traits can lead to that person developing self-stigmas.
“I might say I’m depressed, or I have depression, so I’m lazy,” said Pasternak. “I’m not motivated. I am a bother to be around”.
“I start telling myself these things and stigmatizing myself, not because any of those things are true, but because this is what I’ve been conditioned to believe about people with depression,” she said.
Therefore, when deciding whether to seek treatment, some might weigh the pros and cons of getting professional help versus being viewed negatively in the eyes of their peers, friends, or family or colleagues, Pasternak said.
Societal issues can also affect treatment
While some choose to not receive treatment because of stigmas, Pasternak pointed out that there are certain issues facing today’s society that can lead people to forego getting treated. Systemic oppression and a lack of access to mental health resources can overlap with the stigmas surrounding mental health causing people to fear getting diagnosed.
“If I am from a low socioeconomic status and I’ve got depression, and I really think of people with depression as being lazy, I might [say] I can’t go get diagnosed with that because I need to work really hard to make enough money to live,” Pasternak said. “I can’t be seen as lazy.”
Pasternak also noted that there is not a lot of access to care or mental health education in some communities. Affordability, insurance coverage, access to transportation to and from care facilities, location, and diversity in care providers must all be factored into an individual’s choice to receive treatment. With regard to education, patients should have access to information that answers questions related to the normality of mental illness, whether their condition is acute or chronic, and the availability of different types of treatment options and resources.
Creating a better environment for mental health patients
By addressing the lack of access to mental health care, resources and education in certain communities, members of society can help eliminate the stigmas that put mental illness in a negative box. Active Minds tries to destigmatize mental health issues by making mental health education accessible for every community.
“How do we center LGBTQ youth, black youth, [and] all these different identities in [our] work so that this is relevant to them and [they are not simply] an afterthought,” Pasternak said.
According to the Active Minds website, today’s generation of young adults are much more likely to talk about mental health than their parents’ or grandparents’ generations. An important part of having these discussions is mental health literacy, which refers to knowledge and understanding about mental health conditions and care.
In a Zoom interview with Markie Pasternak, she discussed the importance of mental health literacy.
In a Zoom interview with Markie Pasternak, she discussed the importance of mental health literacy.
From a medical viewpoint, Skinner believes that the best thing that doctors and nurses can do for their patients is to treat them and emphasize the importance of receiving treatment or taking medications. In her unit, the staff has meetings with a patient’s family to help them if they need assistance with understanding their loved one’s illness and how to care for them.
“Patients have to understand that mental health is just like having diabetes or high blood pressure,” she said. “[People with those conditions] have to take medications every day to regulate their body. [It’s the] same thing with psychiatric medications. You have to take it to regulate your body, and we try our best to encourage them.”
Photo by Karolina Grabowska // Commonly used medications to treat mental health conditions are antidepressants, stimulants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotic drugs, and anti-anxiety drugs.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska // Commonly used medications to treat mental health conditions are antidepressants, stimulants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotic drugs, and anti-anxiety drugs.
Furthermore, Skinner said that there has been a recent initiative to expand the psychiatric care program at Mercy Hospital. Mercy primarily provides inpatient treatment, which means that mental health patients are treated while they remain in the hospital. The new initiative aims to create more outpatient care resources so that the patients can have access to treatment once they have been discharged.
“The housing situation is horrible,” she said. “A lot of times the family can’t take it anymore because it is a lot of work, and once [patients are] in the hospital they have nowhere to go upon discharge. So, providing housing and outpatient treatment is what we advocate for.”
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