Mental health must be a top priority
On Oct. 8, the USC student organization Free Minds hosted an event focused on mental health, where a panel of professionals discussed the lack of student awareness regarding mental health. The aim was to promote equality between mental health and medical issues in the community in an effort to destigmatize mental health. Though awareness among adults is already high, the deficit in understanding lies within the demographic affected most by psychological disorders: college students. A lack of education about the issue is to blame for this problem and the university community must continue the discussion on mental health.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have a diagnosable mental illness, 40 percent of those surveyed did not seek help and 57 percent of whom did not request accommodations from their school.
These statistics are highly concerning and demonstrate the negative effects of mental health stigmatization in America.
Understandably, freshman year of college can feel like a candy store. There’s excitement everywhere new students turn, with new people to meet and new activities and events to engage in. But these opportunities present equally as much stress. Evaluating one’s own physical health during this period can be problematic, but it is even more difficult to evaluate one’s own mental health. Students must learn to recognize that these problems, like many other medical issues, are not their own fault.
The fact that mental health problems — unlike physical illnesses — can’t usually be detected by others makes it difficult for outsiders to grasp their impact on people’s lives. Regardless of personal experience, no one should denounce the diagnoses of others or make them feel at fault for their illnesses. In reality, the people who are struggling the most try to suppress their problems out of fear and avoid seeking attention. The rise in recreational drug use such as Adderall trivializes the plight of those who take medications for medical reasons.
Besides these social stigmas, politics contribute to the negative perception surrounding mental health. Health care companies have begun referring to mental health as “mental illness” in policies, which only amplifies the shame associated with seeking treatment. When mental health is framed with such a negative connotation, who would want to admit to having a problem with mental health? It appears that insurance companies are using this to their advantage, as stigmatizing mental health lowers the number of people seeking professional help and thus lowers the number of bills the companies would have to cover.
A solution to this problem lies in changing vernacular. Replacing the word “illness” with “health” is the first step. This change puts the topic in a less degrading light, promoting wellness instead of implying insanity. Furthermore, mental health shouldn’t be as taboo of a topic as it is now. If the public can address mental health in the same way race, sexuality or war is talked about, it will create a better atmosphere for honest conversation. A way in which this can be accomplished is through the help of celebrities. These highly regarded individuals, in coming out with their own personal struggles, put a face to issues of mental health.
The recent mental health panel at USC was just the first step in raising awareness and changing the university culture. Students must be constantly reminded to care for each other if the climate surrounding mental health is going to change.
Abby Mark is a freshman majoring in theatre.
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“the deficit in understanding lies within the demographic affected most by psychological disorders: college students. A lack of education about the issue is to blame for this problem and the university community must continue the discussion on mental health.” I couldn’t agree more, in fact, I think we need to start educating young people while they are still in high school. Onset of schizophrenia can begin in the teen years, so why wait until college to broach the subject? Many years ago I worked in the criminal justice system and was saddened by how far things had to go before a person could get help. I saw young men and women come in to court after committing some offense and they’d be wild-eyed with fear. They didn’t know what was happening to them. The voices seemed so real, the commands needed to be obeyed. They literally didn’t know they were succumbing to schizophrenia and the world around them was a terrifying place. — Janice Holly Booth, author of “A Voice out of Nowhere: Inside the mind of a mass murderer.”
“an effort to destigmatize mental health” This is a dangerous idea. The goal should not be to make people complacent about mental health issues. Mentally ill people are often a danger to themselves and society. Nearly every mass shooting since 1977 was committed by a person diagnosed as mentally ill. It is not safe to have more mentally ill people as potential ticking time bombs. Mentally ill need to get help or be locked up – for the safety of the rest of us.
For the mental illnesses that are not a danger to society, we need a different name to keep them from being bunched in with the group that is dangerous.
LM, I’d like to correct one statement you make when you say that nearly every mass shooting since 1977 was committed by a person diagnosed as mentally ill. Based on recent research — and two reports published recently by the NY Times and Mother Jones — a large percentage of mass killings in the US were indeed committed by people who had severe, untreated mental illness. Once the crime statistics were adjusted to remove incidents of gang-related violence and armed robbery, it appears that about 40% of the killings were committed by untreated mentally ill persons. That’s still way too high, of course, and the whole thing becomes even more tragic when we know those killings could have been prevented if we’d only given appropriate and effective help to the perpetrators in time to stop them. The whole notion of effective mental health care is a complicated issue but locking people up won’t solve the problem. We need some good, strong, clear-headed leadership around this social, medical and moral issue, for everyone’s sake.
great article…. you should take a look at ” I AM NOT OKAY. I’M BIPOLAR” by Khalil Kuntz available at amazon…you will be amazed at how this woman has been ignored since a child and the reasons why she continues to struggle with mental illness. it is amazingly deep, disturbing and touching all at the same time. The details are much too vivid to be anything other than nonfiction. After reading this, i am sure eyes will be open to perhaps the answers to all the why’s and how’s that are being questioned about mental illness and situations going on in the world today.