7 Ways to Diffuse Mental Health Stigma

 Talking about mental health in a healthy way is something that societies across the globe have historically struggled with. However, with the increasing rate of mental disorders across the globe, it has become essential to bridge the difference between mental and physical health problems by understanding the risk factors and repercussions of mental disorders. It is time that people come together to dissipate the stigma associated with mental problems.

Those spared from the afflictions of a psychiatric illness may not comprehend the impact of their actions or the dangerous outlook perpetuated by them on referring someone as "schizophrenic," "deranged" or "demented." However, it does not change the fact that stigma and perceptions related to mental health problems quintessentially criminalizes people suffering from the problem.

Effective ways of fighting mental health stigma

When such false beliefs inflame stigmatizing attitudes, regardless of the form, they significantly affect the emotional and social life of individuals suffering from mental disorders. This not only lengthens their recovery process, but also prevents them from talking about their problems and seeking medical help. Therefore, it is crucial to fight mental stigma and here are some ways that can help change people's outlook.

Refrain from making it a taboo: Talking openly about mental health problems creates a platform where people can honestly discuss their struggles with mental disorders. This provides an opportunity to convey to those suffering in silence that they are not alone and that help is available.

Stay informed and spread awareness: When someone misrepresents mental illnesses, most people prefer looking the other way or staying silent. However, to reduce the brunt of the stigma, it is important to express how such beliefs affect a person and the need to spread awareness.

Avoid using stigmatizing language: The human language is continually changing and evolving and so have the applications of words, such as "insane," "nuts," and "mental" when referred to someone with a mental illness. Unfortunately, portraying mental illnesses through adjectives labels the individual and does no good in improving the situation.

Treat mental and physical disorders equally: Just like physical diseases, mental illnesses are brain disorders that can develop in anybody. The need of the hour is to treat mental disorders like other chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc., to ensure effective treatment.

Choose not to be a victim: Stigmatization leads to discrimination and oppression of people with mental disorders. However, it is also possible to lead a life very different from the decadent view of mental disorders by simply honoring one's choice to lead an empowered life by seeking treatment.

Need to alert media: The depiction of mental health issues by the media has so far been like a double-edged sword. Many a times, they've helped spread public awareness about mental health, yet at times they've also inaccurately portrayed mental illnesses. Therefore, it is important to alert media platforms about the ill effects of using stigmatizing language as both their media coverage and the consequences of wrongfully addressing mental health issues are far-reaching.

Talk about treatment and recovery: An uninformed and ignorant person may harbor apprehensions about mental health treatment. He or she may fear being judged as a weak person on visiting a psychiatrist or taking medications. When people who have recovered from their problems through medical interventions talk about their recovery, they have an opportunity to inform others. At the end, seeking treatment for mental disorders does not make a person weak. In fact, it represents his or her courage and will to get better.

Fight mental health stigma

Mental health stigma can affect various aspects of one's life. At its worst, it can lead to self-criticism wherein the person blames himself or herself for his or her condition. In such cases, stigmatization becomes an active ongoing risk factor for the disorder that prevents an individual from seeking the required help from others.

Parents worried about teen mental health need not look any further. Factual information can help you to make decisions that will actually help your child be happier in his or her life. Teens are at the vulnerable stage in life and, as a parent, if you search the net or talk to your friends, you will get a lot of advice on how to help improve your teen's mental health.

Yet, facts are what matter! Facts have no vested interest or bias and may help you, the loving parent, to determine what is best for your child. First, to define mental health symptoms, disorders and diagnoses, there are these facts: No medical tests exist that can detect a mental health disorder (no brain scan, no blood test, no chemical imbalance test). Dr. Allen Frances, Editor of the psychiatric diagnostic manual, edition IV, states in an article titled, Mislabeling Medical Illness as Mental Disorder, " that the diagnoses "will harm people who are medically ill by mislabeling their medical problems as mental disorder." Dr. Russell Barkley, clinical professor of psychiatry, and pediatrics, in the same article, states, " There is no lab test for any mental disorder right now in our science."

Psychiatric disorders are listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The disorders are voted on by workgroups comprised of psychiatrists. Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, was reported by the New Yorker as refuting the validity of mental health diagnoses. "Insel announced that the D.S.M.'s diagnostic categories lacked validity, that they were not 'based on any objective measures,' and that, 'unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma or AIDS,' which are grounded in biology, they were nothing more than constructs put together by committees of experts. America's psychiatrist-in-chief seemed to be reiterating what many had been saying all along: that psychiatry was a pseudoscience, unworthy of inclusion in the medical kingdom. According to a 2012 report from the University of Massachusetts, "Three-fourths of the work groups continue to have a majority of their members with financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry". Per the FDA, some of the side effects of psychiatric drugs include mania, psychosis, depression, suicidal thoughts, homicidal thoughts and death. Non-psychiatric medical professionals can, and do, perform medical tests to detect any potential underlying physical cause of unwanted mental health symptoms.

Per Florida Department of Health Regulation, Florida Patient's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, each individual has the right to be fully informed about the proposed medical treatment or procedure. This includes the right to know the risks and alternatives. For those who live outside of Florida, Informed Consent, the right to know the risks and the alternatives to any treatment, is a legally accepted term that is used globally and ensures your right to make decisions for your health and well being.

Second, considering the, above-mentioned, facts, there becomes a vicious circle for any teen, adult or elder, who is experiencing life's stresses, and therefore the effects of those stresses, such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, aggression, and more. The never-ending circle is that of mental health diagnoses, mental health drugs, (more drugs, whether prescribed or abused) and more mental health diagnoses, with only seeming improvement in symptoms if the drug or drugs have chemically restrained the initial and unwanted mental health symptoms, temporarily. Unfortunately, for most those restraints fail to work after time and the adverse effects take place, which of course produce more mental health symptoms, more diagnoses and more drugs.

Teen mental health is an important topic! It has to do with the welfare of your child, our future adult in society. Those that shape and direct how our culture will develop over time. To improve your teen's mental health, consider the facts and in doing so, talk to traditional, non mental heath, medical professionals about the possibility of a thorough medical exam that will test for all possible physical causes of the teen's depression, anxiety, aggression, etcetera.

Time and history are on your side, because over time, and strewn through the last 4 decades are medical research and multitudes of documented real-life cases of individuals who did avail themselves of a thorough physical examination, found the true physical cause of their problems and resolved all through the use of medical science that carried none of the FDA warnings on mental health drugs, which of course, are mental health symptoms in themselves https://mentalhealthwellnessnow.com/. Such as, mania, delusions, psychosis, worsening depression, anxiety, hallucinations, suicidal and homicidal thoughts and actions.

Will Fudeman, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, recently published an article about his work as a psychotherapist. He felt he had to do more to help his patients than listen to their woes. He decided, after his own personal experience of having horrific pain after a car accident, that he wanted to study Chinese medicine. He got his license to practice as an Acupuncturist and, after his 20 years as a therapist, he says that he had come to understand that emotional and physical are "intertwined".

Dr. Fudeman cites Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and his research treating those who have experienced all types of trauma. Even those who have been to war, experienced natural disasters and serious accidents, etcetera. Fudeman says "Van der Kolk has found that survivors of trauma are helped most by treatments that bring them into their bodies in the present time.