Mental illness has constantly been seen as a "joke". People think just because you can't physically see someone's illness means that it isn't actually there. This is far from true. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 adults experience mental illness in a given year. For teens between the ages of 13-18, it is also 1 in 5.
One stereotype that I'm sick of hearing about is that teens who have a mental illness are just going through a "phase". I honestly blame media for this because movies about teenagers such as "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "American Pie" make it seem like drinking and taking drugs is a normal thing and that this is how you cure a mental illness.
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Another one is blaming the person for their mental illness. I cannot stress enough that it is NOT the person's fault. Mental illnesses don't just happen over night. No one wakes up one day and decides that they want to have a mental illness. Trauma, and life experiences are what cause mental illness.
I'm taking a course on mental health this semester, and it has already made me realize many things. It's made me realize that so many people do not take mental illness seriously and are constantly making jokes that they don't even realize how offensive they are. My teacher told us to take note of anything we notice that would probably offend someone with a mental illness. Whether it was in person, on the news, on a TV show, or even in music. This was an eye opener for me because once I actually started paying attention to others, I started to realize there were SO many things that would offend someone.
I'll admit it, I was this person. Even though I have people in my life that are affected by mental illness, I would still continue to make jokes such as "this assignment makes me want to jump off a bridge" or calling someone a psycho. I think I decided to start saying things like this because I was used to hearing others saying it around me. I thought it was something you could say and that it didn't mean anything. The reality is that it does.
If people have realized that saying things like "fag" or "retarded" are offensive, then why can't people realize that saying you want to kill yourself or calling someone crazy is also offensive? One day I hope people will take mental illness seriously. There are many people who have a mental illness but are too scared to tell anyone in fear of not being taken seriously. From now on I'm going to be aware of the things that I say around others, because I never know what someone else is going through.
