Why are people so ashamed about getting help and treated for a mental illness?

Question

The brain is an organ like any others and like all the other organs it can malfunction. Why should people be more ashamed of seeking help for a mental illness any more than a liver disease? What's with all the stigma?

lericah · Accepted Answer

I think your talking about drug addiction and other "treatable" disorders which is important since most of society has come to accept that other mental disorders cannot be controlled in anyway.

Psychology is a science that only recently has gained robust and well researched material unlike Chemistry, Mathematics, and other sciences which have had their core theories and research established for well over 100 years. Combine this with historically questionable research studies and you have a field who is looked at with speculation by the populace.

When they say that a mental illness is the result of an imbalance and drugs or counselling, especially counseling, can fix the imbalance then it looks to people like a personal problem that the person should be capable of fixing this themselves. Even if this is not the case.

It's taken Darwin's theory of evolution over 150 years to make creationism a fringe hypothesis. Imagine how long it will take for the disease theory of mental illness, which If I'm right really came together in the 80's and 90's.

aficionado · Accepted Answer

Those people are not ashamed about seeking help, they are ashamed about being judged by the so-called 'normal' humans. To be very honest, only professionals and others with mental illness, understand that those suffering from such illnesses too are like others, and need love, care and understanding. But instead, they get crap and get judged because mental illnesses aren't visible.

It's just like asking a crippled man to run, then judging him when he cannot. Humans are EVIL.

fauchelevent · Accepted Answer

I remember being really conflicted about whether to try taking meds or continue with alternative methods that weren't really resolving anything. I remember being pretty terrified of going on medication and finally asking myself why the fuck I was so scared of it. I'd taken medication for colds or headaches or period aches or my allergies my whole life and never once felt scared about doing so or like doing so made me weaker so I had to question my reservation about this particular medication. It took a lot to actually remember that my brain and my nervous system are just as much a part of my body as my uterus or my heart or my liver or anything and I shouldn't be ashamed of taking medication for one but not the other, y'know? It's pretty common for people to be ashamed when they first get asked if the want to try medication, it's a scary idea, but it really, really shouldn't be.

kaylaS91 · Accepted Answer

There is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness, unfortunately. Less than there used to be, but it still exists. If you're schizophrenic, for example, people will be scared, believing that you're a complete nut who's paranoid of everyone. If you're depressed, they'll believe that you're a debbie-downer right from the start, and most likely avoid spending too much time with you because they've already decided that you're no fun. Likewise for most other mental disorders...

When people are not educated about the facts behind such things, they'll jump to conclusions. Conclusions that are generally negative, and based on how these disorders are portrayed in the media. In other words, not accurately at all.

JRICHARDS1996 · Answer

Because the American mental healthcare system is completely and utterly fucked, for lack of a better term. This I know from intimate experience. The way we deal with it is hardly any better than pseudoscience from the Middle Ages. We still have an aversion to it and treat it as something inherently dangerous, as if those afflicted with it were somehow criminals or laboratory rats at best. There is not enough money, too many patients, and overworked workers who can only do so much with the few resources alloted to them. I remember having to be hospitalized once when I was 16 and the police officer told me about "magical pills" that will make all of the pain "disappear." Then most of the time in the facilities is spent playing with coloring books and getting high on medications. No true progress is ever done. All the "professionals" do is ask if you ever hear or see things, or have a desire to harm yourself, then they leave you alone to cope by yourself.

cth96190 · Answer

There is a stigma, because of ignorant attitudes by people who can (and will) discriminate against someone if they reveal that they have a problem.
For example, the leadership of the Australian Army has an attitude to mental health that could be described as mediaeval.
If a soldier seeks help inside the army system, they will be a civilian within 48 hours.
Consequently, soldiers either do not seek help, or do so privately and rely on the doctor/patient confidentiality for protection.
I served with men who had serious issues, but they did not dare to say a word.
I have a good friend who still wakes screaming and sweating during the night, from experiences that he had in Vietnam in 1972. He did not dare to seek help until after he retired from the army.
In the corporate world, anyone who reveals that they have an issue such as depression is seen as weak and unreliable.
Hence, nobody says anything and there are a lot of people who need help who dare not seek kit.

itsallover · Answer

Because knowledge about mental health conditions is still in the early days, and the idea that your mind can be 'sick' is a relatively new concept that's only just over 100 years old.

A lot of it also has to do with the fact that you can't necessarily physically see mental illness like you could see someone suffering from chickenpox, for example.

meatballs21 · Answer

Because a mental illness is 'all in your head' and if you tried hard enough you could just stop thinking that way and 'get over it'. The response is to tell the asshole non saying these things that it's like telling someone to just get over having a broken leg.

Decentguy · Answer

dont know about being ashamed of it but i suffered from many mental illness and all i experienced is that no one understands you how much you are in suffering. mental is illness is the worst illness because it can't be seen so a lot of people think that people with mental illness are fine even tho they know that those people are suffering from it

Marinepilot · Answer

I believe it's because society views them as damage. My feeling is
they need to do this. I've seen many bi-polar people. As long as they
take their medicine and work their therapy, they can get by. When they
feel good and think, "I don't need my meds", then the invariably have a
melt down and regress further than they wore.

selmo93 · Answer

Because they see it as all in their head and being weak about it and fear of not being believed as there's more acceptance with physical illnesses as people can see it

Mustachekitteh · Answer

It's due to peoples reactions to it. They end up thinking that you're lying to them about it and no matter what they won't believe you. Then they act like you might kill them in a split second.

BellePepper · Answer

I feel like in a lot of situations people are depressed so they're convinced there's something personally wrong or weak within them instead of just being sick.

Balcazaurus · Answer

Don't need someone to tell you you're in pain if you've already been living with it.

Treating it is different for everyone, but it usually revolves around the person striving to better themselves somehow.

00Lelouchxx · Answer

Bevuase other don't have that mental illness so why do I. Or even if they do have it they are dealing with it.

In this new age u either get full support or you take somone down with ur hate and bullying and nagging

kelvinmed · Answer

Because people with mental illness are shunned and stigmatized. People begin to assume things that ridicule the person with the illness. Also we judge the cover and judging distracts us from the real issue

Anonymous · Answer

It isn't always that but just finding the right person to get help can be tricky at first, esp when healthcare isn't subsidised by government, consultation fees maybe hefty when looking for one privately.

reptocarl · Answer

Because there's still a stigma associated with mental illness because of a lack of education

sparkly-crystal · Answer

Many think mental disorders are not physiological, but just psychological so they need to GET OVER it.

kittykatbrat · Answer

I'm not & have openly admitted that I am a diagnosed cyclothymic many times here.

madhatters4 · Answer

there is unfortunately still a lot of stigma and misconceptions about mental illness

Mesonfielde · Answer

The drugs are scary because the brain is less understood than the liver.

Anonymous · Answer

It's just embarrassing. Everybody wants to feel "normal" so they feel ashamed when they're not sometimes.

idkwtftoputhere · Answer

because there is still a stigma regarding mental illnesses, particularly in men.

OrangeBoy · Answer

I think it's more about not believing they can change orbe helped (like about everything, whe they are like that), they mostly need external support.

orphan · Answer

46% chance that an American will have a diagnosable mental disorder in their lifetime.  that's just embarsssing.

JessicaWin · Answer

You don't want to get treated like a condition instead of a person by others. A broken arm doesn't do that to you.

SlightlyCrazy · Answer

Society discourages what it sees as weekends  Even though mental health is vastly importent and a serious issue

Jane1 · Answer

Because their neighbours would call them "lunatic" :P

Anonymous · Answer

The world makes you feel like it's a matter of willpower.

OrdinaryGentleman · Answer

Because you have idiots playing it down and other idiots follow suit.

Zorax · Answer

They don't want to be depicted as "crazy people".

slimstiffy · Answer

Coz no one wants to be seen as crazy or a retard

Waffles731 · Answer

Because there is still some societal stigma

babeeeone · Answer

It's embarrassing.

Why are people so ashamed about getting help and treated for a mental illness?

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Should you cut people with mental illness out of your life that need your help, but treat you like a like a low value human being?

Why are people so ashamed about getting help and treated for a mental illness?

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Should you cut people with mental illness out of your life that need your help, but treat you like a like a low value human being?

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