Mental Illness: A Psychological Analysis

Those suffering from mental disorders shoulder a great burden. Shunned by society and family, it is difficult for them to function in modern life. Societal stigma only aggravates the vulnerabilities people suffering from mental illnesses have. Presently society views mental illnesses in black and white, normal and abnormal. Someone receiving counseling is not regarded the same as a sick person seeking treatment, but rather as if there is and always will be something wrong with them. While no cure for mental illnesses exist, that is not to say its effects cannot be minimized. Counseling may be all it takes for an afflicted individual to understand and manage a mental disorder. Regrettably, many believe therapy is an admission of guilt, revealing to others their abnormalities. …show more content…
During the early years of my life there were no signs of issues. Later, however the symptoms, which neither my father nor I had noticed manifested, leaving my mother a shell of her former self. Paranoia and various sorts of delusions ravaged her mind. She refused to receive treatment, thinking that she would never get hired by companies and that it would lead to a permanent mark in her records. No amount of reasoning or cajoling would get her to accept a doctor's treatment. Ordinarily, in the right state of mind, she would have sought treatment, but her fragile state let society's views warp her way of thought. If society learned to accept and try and get help for people with mental disorders without shunning them many more would be willing to seek help. In addition they would not fear retribution for revealing what may in fact be their most vulnerable