Essay On Mental Health Stigma

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not we are surrounded by broken systems resulting in unsolved issues in our society. Some are more evident than others. Such as the stigma of mental illness. It might not be as visible as poverty but people suffer from mental illness daily. Not only are they suffering from severe repercussions of the illness but they have to cope with societies stigma. The stigma of mental illness hinders people’s ability to obtain high paid jobs, have stable relationships, and have high self-esteem. Stigma has been known to exist since the sixteen and seventeen hundreds. In the past people took advantage of these vulnerabilities in order to oppress specific groups of people. For example slaves and Jewish groups were typically marked permanently to show society they were an outcast. Even though mental illness isn’t recognized as much as other deficiency’s; there are around 57.7 million adults in America, according to the U.S 2004 Census, who suffer from a mental illness. An approximation of 89% of people with mental illness have experienced stigma because of their illness. Let’s not forget that significant others, family, friends, or even mental health employees can experience stigmatism as well. Of course the judgements wouldn’t be as severe but it could still …show more content…
Here at Roger Williams University we have a club called active minds, which Malmon founded. Malmon lost her only brother who committed suicide. Following this tragedy Malmon took it upon herself to create the Active Minds organization in 2003. She embarked on her goal at her very own campus at the University of Pennsylvania. Malmon has become a well known innovator of the mental health community. Some of the few recognition awards Malmon has received includes the Destigmatization Award, Tipper Gore Remember the children Award, and inaugural Young Leadership