1. Why do you think there is so much stigma associated with mental illness? What factors do you think contribute to self-stigma?

I believe that there is so much stigma associated with mental illness simply due to a lack of understanding or knowledge of mental illness. Stigma is a dynamic social/interactional process in which the stigmatized person is labeled as different and linked to negative stereotypes. Unfortunately as a society, I feel we tend to associate mental illness with negative stereotypes such as violence, being dangerous and unpredictable. Or incapable of functioning independently and creating this very negative stigma around mental illness. By allowing for this negative stigma to surround mental illness we as a society often tend to ostracized people within our society living with mental illness. This often leads to self-stigma, which occurs when a person with mental illness internalizes the public’s negative stereotypes or view of mental illness, resulting in that person to develop low self esteem, or creates label avoidance. Label avoidance is when a person with a mental illness avoids treatment or seeking care in order to avoid being labeled mentally ill. I feel that this stigma is deeply rooted in our society but all stems from a simple lack of knowledge of mental illness. I feel like in our society we have created this idea of mental illness but nobody ever really talks about mental illness and its impact on people, when in-fact mental illness is a huge burden on our society and 1 in every 5 adults live with a mental illness. In order to debunk the stigma surrounding mental illness, we simply need to bring more awareness to the topic and educate people on metal illness and what it really means to live with a mental illness, because it is different for everyone. Through the recent pandemic I have found that there has been a large emphasis on promoting good mental health and normalizing the importance of taking care of ourselves, especially in such difficult times. I think that is a good step in the right direction to counteract the negative stigma we have created and the negative effects that come along with this stigma. 

2. In what ways might a person’s culture impact their response to mental illness. Consider, for example, how religiousness/spirituality might intertwine with a person’s conceptualization of wellness and illness. 

Culture has a large impact on mental illness and specifically a persons response to mental illness because everyone has one or multiple cultural identities. This means a set of cultural belief that they look to for standards of behavior and choose to identify most with. Often different cultures tend to have different views on mental illness, some view mental illness as a condition for which the ill person must be ostracized form society, where as others are much more tolerant and believe that family and community are key to the care and treatment of the mentally ill. Because of this of cultures and religious belief underlie the stigmatization surrounding mental illness, which can have a great impact on the members on these cultures. Social factors can also play a key role in this. Based on the cultures stance on mental illness, a person that identifies with the culture might choose to not seek treatment simply to avoid feeling ostracized or labeled as mentally ill. Similar to culture and spirituality can also be expressed by adhering to a set of religious beliefs. These beliefs are often up to individual interpretation and can impact weather of not a persons chooses to receive treatment, but it has also been found that people with mental illness tend to benefit from spiritual assessment and intervention. Social factors such as income and where a person lives can also play a large role in if a person chooses to receive help, but also if there is help relatively available to that person. Culture and what that culture encompasses that we choose to identify with can have a huge impact on our beliefs and ideas surrounding mental illness, but for its members it can have a large impact on how they choose to respond to treatment or if they do at all as well.