Why Most People Are Hiding Mental Health Problems
When your identity feels blemished
Mental illness is not a character flaw. However, in today’s day and age, it’s hard to convince people otherwise.
I’m a clinical psychologist, and I’ve been a therapist for years now. I’ve had my own stressors and have seen a psychologist to learn better ways of coping and to live a better and fulfilled life.
It was actually my own self-improvement and work to improve my mental health that led me on my journey to cultivate wellness in others.
Before any real work can be done in therapy, I usually work with the person to dismantle some harmful and stigmatized beliefs that they learned from living in our society.
So many people come to therapy and they’re battling with themselves.
They know they experience stress, anxiety, depression, and other concerns, but they also wish they’re problems would just go away.
They wish people (friends, family, and strangers) didn’t treat them like they were crazy. They also wish that there was just someone who understood them.
In 1963, Erving Goffman wrote about the concept of “spoiled identity.” It’s sad to say that in 2020, his sentiments on stigma ring true.
“The Greeks, who were apparently strong on visual aids, originated the term stigma to refer to bodily signs designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of the signifier. The signs were cut or burnt into the body and advertised that the bearer was a slave, a criminal, or a traitor — a blemished person, ritually polluted, to be avoided, especially in public places…Today the term is widely used in something like the original literal sense but is applied more to the disgrace itself than to the bodily evidence of it…”.
We’re living in a time where having a mental illness is still seen as a blemish or spoiled identity.
Suffering in silence
Despite the fact that people are suffering, people are not forthcoming about mental health concerns.
One study showed that out of 17,000 first-year college students, 56% of them sought services for physical health issues. However, only 16% of them sought psychological services.
This isn’t because mental health problems don’t occur. Odds are, most of the students are experiencing some stressors that may be impacting their mental health.
After all, ninety-five percent of college counselor directors endorse that college students have an increase in severe psychological problems.
Why then would so many people choose not to get help for their mental health concerns, especially is they were causing some distress? Some popular reasons for concealing mental health problems are:
Uncertainty about confidentiality
Decreased accessibility
Self-reliance
Low literacy on mental health services
Fear about seeking sources of help.
People would rather suffer in silence than to speak up for fear of being discriminated against or seen as a blemished person. Suffering in silence leads to harrowing outcomes. Like the fact that there has been a 31% increase in suicide rates over the years, or that 1 in 5 adults are diagnosed with mental health disorders.
With the prevalence of mental health concerns, it’s important that we continue the conversation on mental illness.
It’s about time we rethink mental illness
It’s time that we change the way we think about mental illness, creating a more nuanced notion of what’s “normal” and what wellness looks like.
Here are a few ways that I’ve reframed how to think about mental illness based on the literature:
People wouldn’t blame someone or stigmatize them if they were diagnosed with breast cancer or diabetes, yet when someone has a mental illness they are immediately thought of as “less than.”
These conditions occur due to biological processes.
These conditions can be treated with research-backed treatments such as diet, exercise, and therapy.
Individuals diagnosed with both conditions can live happy, fulfilled, healthy lives.
Using a comparison such as this helps people understand that mental illness and physical health concerns are really no different. Yet, people with mental illness continue to be marginalized.
Key takeaways: Let’s dismantle mental health stigma
The way we think about mental illness is a mindset shift.
No longer is it acceptable to think of mental illness as a character defect.
With the rising rates of mental illness and stressors due to current events, we are all susceptible to concerns about our mental health.
This quote, written by author The Sex & Secrets Column exemplifies one of the key takeaways:
“Mental health stigma is so false, yet so prevalent.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
