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Final Essay on mental health issues and stigma within America...

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Mental Illness in America: Stigma and Prejudice

POLS 0932 Honors Politics of Identity in America May 3, 2019

1 Allie Lichvar “Try smiling for once”. This is a phrase that frequently used to leave my mother’s mouth. A phrase that when I’d come home from school in a bad mood, stay locked in my room all day or cry for hours, would persistently echo in my head and continue to haunt me long after. My mother always had good intentions, but she never realized that those four words were merely coated in a thin veneer of care. What lies beneath is an insurmountable foundation of ignorance and misunderstanding; like putting a bandage over a bullet hole, this advice could do nothing to relieve the pain I felt internally. Such is the nature of mental illness in America. Millions of people cry out for help as their own brain’s wage war against them, yet they are more often than not dismissed. Unless the problem manifests itself physically, we as a society fail to validate the severity and sincerity of it. It is this lack of understanding and blatant disregard that has led to the horrific stigma surrounding mental illness today and thus the stereotypes and challenges those suffering must face in America. While the awareness in our society of mental illnesses is increasing, there is still an unacceptable level of denial and prejudice focused towards those affected by these invisible disabilities. In Erving Goffman’s, Stigma and Social Identity, he explains that as a society we employ stigma or craft an “ideology to explain his inferiority and account for the danger he represents, sometimes rationalizing an animosity based on other differences” 1. In the case of mental illness, the lack of knowledge surrounding the nature of these disorders and the recent weaponization of the term in the facet of mass violence has led society to brand people suffering with these illnesses as pariahs. The fear of the unknown or the taboo historically has alienated citizens who

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Erving Goffman, “Stigma and Social Identity” in Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, 5 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963).

2 need care and attention the most. Take for example the widespread panic and hate that engulfed the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Rather than help those in need, the enigmatic nature of AIDS led people the shun homosexuals and drug users, preventing them not only from receiving treatment but also proper burials once they had passed. Today, mental illness is treated with a similar stigma. We tend to, as Goffman writes, “employ categorizations where they do not fit”2 on to those suffering with mental health problems. According to a study from Johns Hopkins, “a number of the most common psychiatric diagnoses, including depressive, anxiety, and attention-deficit disorders, have no correlation with violence whatsoever” 3. Yet, labels such as “psycho” or “crazy” are tossed around with no regard to truth, leading to an uncomfortable tension between both parties. This gives rise to an increased level of fear and guilt, and thus deters people from ever receiving proper treatment or accepting they have an illness to begin with. It is irrational to believe that demonizing and isolating an entire group of people could ever ease said tension and act as a solution to this problem. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a different type of stigma plagues those suffering with mental illness. This stigma, rather than paint those suffering as monsters, characterizes them as attention-seekers or outright liars. Unlike most illnesses, many of the symptoms of mental diseases such as anxiety or depression do not present themselves physically; they are only truly felt by those suffering with them. And so, it can not only prove hard to diagnose a specific disorder, but also be nearly impossible to conceptualize how it feels if one has never experienced it themselves. Thus, mental illness in most people’s eyes does not present itself a severe enough

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Ibid. 19 Metzl, Jonathan M., and Kenneth T. MacLeish. "Mental illness, mass shootings, and the politics of American firearms."American journal of public health 105, no. 2 (2015): 240-249. 3

3 problem or a legitimate enough reason for someone to miss school, work, etc. In a capitalist society that places a stark emphasis on work and productivity, this proves to be a devastating reality for millions of people. They are seen as “lazy or over exaggerating their conditions”4 when in all sincerity they are indeed suffering. Migraines can make someone bedridden for hours on end, anxiety can strike in a moment's notice and cause a severe panic attack and depression can mentally drain someone for days or even weeks. These symptoms are not visible, but they can carry the same severity as any other physical illness. Yet, many people still choose to deny and ignore cries for help. Unfortunately, these are often the people who are “given the power to make the distinction and decide whether they [those with invisible disabilities] are “disabled enough”’ 5, and thus they actively shut down and scrutinize people with these conditions. Our society does not hold mental illness to the same regard as other physical ailments, and it ends up only making life harder for those suffering. I myself have suffered with mental illness for as long as I could remember and have personally faced stigma from both ends of the spectrum. My parents, while very loving, never truly understood the nature of my problems. When I would refuse to answer the phone, speak to workers at a local shop, or ask a waiter for an extra menu at a restaurant, they would always berate me for my cowardly actions. When I attempted to explain to them how uncomfortable such a situation would make me, the same line would always follow, “grow up”. When the Sandy Hook Massacre happened in the next town over, I overheard my classmates talking about how they were scared of people with mental illness. One student outright said to me “I wouldn’t

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Shanna K. Kattari, Miranda Olzman, Michele D. Hanna, “You Look Fine!”: Ableist Experiences by People With Invisible Disabilities”, Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work 2018, Vol. 33(4) 486 5

Ibid. 478

4 trust anyone taking antidepressants”, while completely unaware that I myself was taking them at the time. It is experiences such as this that scarred me deeply and were burned into my memory. I felt scared to be around the people I loved the most, scared to talk about my problems, but most of all scared to get the help I really needed. The language and treatment I had received from others had convinced me that it was better to suffer in my own head than to ever expose myself as a potential threat. Luckily, as years passed, I eventually found myself in the office of a great therapist who helped me overcome my fear, anxiety and depression. At the time, my diagnosis felt like the end of the world, but I now know it was necessary to start making progress. That being said, while I speak as someone who personally struggles with mental illness, I do not let it define my identity. Rather, the way in which I manage and overcome the symptoms I face characterize who I am as a person. I am very lucky to be living the near normal, happy life that I am today. However, upon completing this course I now realize that many people do not have and may never have access to a support system or treatment such as I did. Mental health in and of itself is a very complex social problem that is affected by a variety of factors such as race, class, and more. Therefore, the challenges I faced in today’s society do not necessarily reflect the reality that many others struggling with mental illness face. As mentioned in Kwame Anthony Appiah’s article, “having an identity doesn’t, by itself, authorize you to speak on behalf of everyone of that identity” 6, and so I feel obligated to dissect how my privilege has affected my experience. For reference, I grew up in an affluent town in Connecticut where the school systems are ranked some of the highest in the country. My parents both have stable jobs and provided me

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Kwame Anthony Appiah, "Go Ahead, Speak for yourself," New York Times

5 with a life in which I would never have to worry about where I would sleep or get my next meal from. Put simply, I am about as privileged as one can be. And so, when my mental illness started to drastically affect my overall quality of life, I had both the money and the resources to seek proper treatment. For many Americans, this is not the case. In most aspects, citizens belonging to a racial minority or a low socioeconomic status will not only be more likely to suffer from mental illness, but also less likely to receive proper treatment. An article regarding disparities in healthcare describes that “people of disadvantaged social status tend to report elevated levels of stress and may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of stressors” 7. This concept, coupled with factors such as racial discrimination means that many minorities are at higher risk for mental illnesses. In addition, Americans of higher status “also have greater health knowledge, are more receptive to new health information, and have greater resources to take advantage of health-enhancing opportunities” 8 than Americans of a lower socioeconomic status. Simply being born into, for example, a poor black family in this country automatically places one at a disadvantage in terms of mental health. They are more likely to face racism, discrimination, or prejudice, and are less likely to have the resources to help treat the illnesses these challenges may cause. The intersectionality between class and race, and the barriers that certain demographics face prove to be a large factor in treatment for illness. According to a journal from The New York Academy of the Sciences, “race is an antecedent and determinant of socioeconomic status”9 and so a large majority of Americans, from birth, are already faced with not only the challenges

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David R. Williams and Pamela Braboy Jackson, "Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health," Health Affairs 24, no. 2 (2005) 8 Ibid. 9 David R. Williams, "Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Health The Added Effects of Racism and Discrimination," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 896, no. 1 (1999)

6 of being a person of color, but also someone of lower status. From the moment they enter this world, many people are already at higher risk for suffering from these invisible illnesses. Upon reflecting, I realize the importance of evaluating my own privilege in the context of mental illness. While my experience, in its own regards is authentic and legitimate, it is not necessarily representative of what other people may face. In the words of Appiah, I am merely “speaking for myself” 10 when I describe my opinion on mental illness. I was lucky enough to be born into a household that could easily afford my treatments, but many others, for a variety of reasons, will never feel that level of comfort. Mental illness on its own can make it feel as if the world is collapsing in on you, even if externally everything is fine. It is only fair that everyone, no matter their race, gender or class has access to proper healthcare. This country needs to drastically change how it perceives mental illness and treats those suffering with it. For too long we as a society have made outcasts of the mentally ill, blamed them for wrongdoings they had no part in, and stereotyped them as monsters. Today, professionals are making great progress in understanding how these illnesses affect us, and I can only hope the public understanding and empathy will soon follow.

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Appiah, “Go Ahead, Speak for Yourself”

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Bibliography Appiah, Kwame Anthony. "Go Ahead, Speak for Yourself." The New York Times. August 10, 2018. Accessed May 05, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/opinion/sunday/speak-for-yourself.html. Goffman, Erving. “Stigma and Social Identity” in Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, 1-40 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963). Kattari, Shanna K., Miranda Olzman, and Michele D. Hanna. "“You Look Fine!”." Affilia 33, no. 4 (2018): 477-92. Metzl, Jonathan M., and Kenneth T. Macleish. "Mental Illness, Mass Shootings, and the Politics of American Firearms." American Journal of Public Health 105, no. 2 (2015): 240-49. doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302242. Williams, David R. "Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Health The Added Effects of Racism and Discrimination." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 896, no. 1 (1999): 173-88. Williams, David R., and Pamela Braboy Jackson. "Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health." Health Affairs 24, no. 2 (2005): 325-34....