The stigma of mental health care is real! It is destructive and crippling; yet altogether too often, it prevails—and the suffering are left to struggle in silence.
Every day, someone who is grappling with mental illness here in the United States neglects to get the help they need because they fear ridicule and rejection. They fear being stigmatized.
Something must be done to eradicate the stigma and empower the suffering to get the help they need and deserve. The time has come to acknowledge the suffering of the mentally ill as a nationwide problem: Lacking the skills necessary to regulate their emotions, these individuals make poor choices. They disobey the law egregiously and repeatedly; they self-medicate with drugs and/or alcohol; and they destroy relationships as they leave a wake of tragedy and turmoil in their path. They suffer and we suffer with them as they choose to remain ill rather than reaching out for treatment. Their fear of the label of a mental health diagnosis stunts them, leaving them victims to their all-consuming symptoms.
Leaders, look around you for ways to lead those who may be challenged by their mental health.
1. Leaders Can Educate
First, leaders can help to stomp the stigma by educating those in their circle of influence about the stigma of mental health care.The first step in change is being made aware and acknowledging the existence of the issue in first place. Many are ignorant of their participation in the stigma of mental health care.
“Where should I begin?” With you! Talk about it! Make it commonplace to discuss feelings and emotions, positive or negative, on the daily. Make it a point to check in with yourself as well as children and your spouse regularly; model the need and significance of mental health care in your home, in your church, in your business, in your world.
2. Recognize the Importance
To realize lasting change, an adjustment must be made in the acknowledgment of the significance of mental health care for every citizen in this nation. A shift must be made. Mental health care must be viewed as equal in importance to receiving medical care.Mental illness is, to the untrained eye, invisible; but equal in validity to a physical illness—which is more often visible.
By providing education to the validity of invisible illnesses, a change can begin to be realized in the mindsets of those who ignorantly participate in the stigmatization of mental health care. By challenging the mindset that mental illness is somehow lesser in significance or even non-existent because it is unable to seen with the untrained eye, it can become more readily accepted as legitimate.
By modeling the significance of attending to invisible illness, leaders can begin to effect change in their homes and their communities.
A person with a heart condition will not be shunned or ridiculed for seeing a physician or a cardiologist.
3. Show Empathy and Compassion
Leaders can demonstrate the power of supporting the mentally ill by showing compassion to those who have been courageous enough to seek the help they so desperately needed.If you’re an employer, encourage taking a mental health day. You can even model it yourself by taking a day trip to your local massage parlor or spa! Educate your circle of influence of the need to refrain from using negative language when referring to a person who is struggling with mental illness: a person is struggling with bipolar disorder; the person is not bipolar. Challenge the mindset that those who see a therapist or take psychotropic medication must be “unstable” and should be avoided.
4. Be the Strong, Steady Voice of Change
Lastly, leaders can advocate for the mentally ill. If you are aware of unfair practices in your home, business, church, or laws—challenge them.The only way we are going to effect change is if we help others to understand the need to make the changes.
Let’s face it, few embrace change! It is uncomfortable and normally it is avoided if possible. But when practices, habits, mindsets, or laws are harmful, change is necessary. It is not healthy or acceptable that, in this nation, as many as 50 percent of those suffering from mental illness go undiagnosed and untreated due to unjust labeling and stigmatizing practices or mindsets.
Change Is Needed
The stigma has a cost.It is evident in the overflow of jails and prisons, for example. Due to poor choices and inability to practice self-control, many with mental health challenges that have not been treated find themselves incarcerated.
In the business world, untreated mental health challenges can plague workers and prevent them from holding onto a job or contributing to the workplace in a fully functional manner. Their light is dimmed as they struggle in silence to manage their symptoms.
Closer to home, in a family setting, mental health challenges can cause parents to be at odds with one another or with their children, relationships grapple and divorces are rampant.
Mental health stigma is a problem that will not correct itself. As a licensed professional in the mental health field, it is evident that change must take place to support this population of our emotionally impoverished, hurting citizens. Mental health care must become a priority rather than taboo, and the only way to bring it light is for the leaders of our society to help erase the stigma.
