I think people with mental illness are stigmatized because they are different. People or society might not understand why someone is acting different or what is going on with them. Instead of trying to understand and empathize, instead they are stigmatized. People make up things they decide to be true about them and spread it, causing it to become stigma against them.

I can think of a lot of health conditions or social issues that have been stigmatized in the past. Any mental illness comes to mind first. Conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety which caused people to be put into asylums and deemed crazy. Calling women hysterical and heavily medicating them instead of looking into what might actually be going on. Additionally, being apart of the LGBTQ+ community was and still is heavily stigmatized. These people were thought to have something wrong with them and were prosecuted for this.

Advocacy has been a big game changer in terms of changing stigmas. Having groups of people speak out against these things and instead spread facts. These groups continued to work even in the face of adversity in order to change the public perception. The ever progressing science has also helped change a lot of stigmas. As the science advances more discoveries are able to be made about certain conditions. This then helps us better understand what is actually going on and change stigmas and incorrect information that has spread.

I think that media and incorrect information influences perceptions on mental illness. There is a lot of media out there either glamorizing mental illness or making it out to be something that it is not. This causes people to get an idea in their head of what they think it is. Stigmas also influence mental illness. I heard all the time in middle school and high school from students and adults that depression is just sadness and that I should just cheer up. If that stigma was not around then that wouldn't be the case and people could actually get the help they need.

I think stigma makes the lives of people with mental illness worse. It causes people to mistreat and misunderstand what is going on with them. It can cause them to not get the help they need and instead have harmful things said to them. It can make people feel isolated and not understood.