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why are we prone to silence re: mental health issues

post #1 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:16am
Thread Starter 
Recent events that affect me have me thinking about this veil of silence that hinders any meaningful discussion of mental health or the mental state of a person. It seems that there remains a stigma attached to seeking any sort of psychiatric services: one friend goes in for bladder surgery and the hospital freely confirms that he is a patient and stays in room 220F. Someone else goes in for psychiatric observation, and I have to give a passcode, because even their names are confidential.

Before I go any further: if this is just a thing with my family/peers - and the rest of the world is open and forthright about these matter, please let me know gently that I hang with a bunch of repressive fuddy-duddies.

Why the hush-hush act? I seriously wonder about this. What is to be gained by keeping these things quiet?

If Erectile Dysfunction is out there with all sorts of commercials advocating that we seek help for BPH and all the other things we won't discuss over the dinner table, why would seeking some sort of psychiatric services be kept so clandestine? I'd think that if people are going to make meaningful progress with their issues, then...get them out into the open already!

If there's something I'm missing, I'd like your input.
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post #2 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:19am
it is frowned upon for males for whatever macho, bullshit reasons. i have battled anxiety and depression at various times over the years and just didn;t find therapy all that helpful. meds were in the short term.
i didn;t find either to be helpful in dealing with real things like financial issues or death, only with self-made and irrational issues, but YMMV
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post #3 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:19am
Plain and simple is that there's a lot of negative stigma associated with issues of mental health.
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post #4 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jumbie View Post
Plain and simple is that there's a lot of negative stigma associated with issues of mental health.

And perhaps rightfully so. We are the serial killers, after all.
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post #5 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:25am
If you were hiring someone for a job would you be more likely to hire someone with mild schizophrenia or someone with no mental illness? People with certain mental illnesses are treated differently for lots of reasons... But I think the main reason is because it can cause an individual to change but we can't see it happening... it creates a sense of mistrust and misunderstanding. Not to mention many mental illnesses are dangerous... just look at the people who have been killed by the mentally ill. You don't often see a cancer patient claiming their dog told them to kill someone or wanting to kill Lennon just for kicks. Lots of mental illnesses aren't to be worried about at all but they get basketed in by the bad ones.
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post #6 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:27am
I've always assumed we stigmatized mental illness because of the prevailing attitude that the person afflicted should just "get over it" because it's "all in their head." There seems to be an assumption of personal control over mental illness that doesn't exist with physical illness.

Many people also don't see mental illness as "real" illness. I think for a lot of people mental illness is not yet legitimate - we can look at an x-ray and see a broken bone, but the same can't be said for mental illness. Connected to this, mental illness is often subjective, and it's easy to feign it or use it as an excuse. If someone is claiming they have, say, kidney stones we can confirm it objectively, this isn't really the same for mental illness.

All of the above is why I would think we protect the identity of those being treated for mental illness. Society has attached a stigma. Because of the stigma, we have to find ways to make people feel they won't be judged for seeking treatment, lest they not seek treatment for fear of being judged. Moreover, we want to stop that stigma from following the patient after they've completed treatment.

I don't really have any evidence to back this, so it's certainly not based in fact. It's just what I've always hypothesized to be the case.
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post #7 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:29am
While I wait for my food to cool, here are a few more thoughts: 1. As was mentioned, the idea of danger to self. This is often true depending on the type of illness. 2. We fear what we don't understand and mental illness is not very well understood in medicine. 3. The idea that there is something inherently "wrong" with the person. That they are somehow broken. It's not like getting pneumonia where there is some identifiable cause.
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post #8 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:33am
Im not sure I understand what you are asking. Do you think the the person WITH the mental health should be more open or Do you think that hospitals/doctors/ and health care providers are being to confidential about the information/identity??
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post #9 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:39am
Mentally ill people are ostracized by society. Society is like that. I think Foucault mentions something about the mentally ill having been oracles, soothsayers, and the like long ago but those occupations are no longer in existence. Society has no use for these people so society institutionalizes or drives them to the extreme margins. Even crazy people don't want that life.
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post #10 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrG View Post
I've always assumed we stigmatized mental illness because of the prevailing attitude that the person afflicted should just "get over it" because it's "all in their head." There seems to be an assumption of personal control over mental illness that doesn't exist with physical illness.

Many people also don't see mental illness as "real" illness. I think for a lot of people mental illness is not yet legitimate - we can look at an x-ray and see a broken bone, but the same can't be said for mental illness. Connected to this, mental illness is often subjective, and it's easy to feign it or use it as an excuse. If someone is claiming they have, say, kidney stones we can confirm it objectively, this isn't really the same for mental illness.

All of the above is why I would think we protect the identity of those being treated for mental illness. Society has attached a stigma. Because of the stigma, we have to find ways to make people feel they won't be judged for seeking treatment, lest they not seek treatment for fear of being judged. Moreover, we want to stop that stigma from following the patient after they've completed treatment.

I don't really have any evidence to back this, so it's certainly not based in fact. It's just what I've always hypothesized to be the case.

There are plenty of organic causes to mental illnesses and lots of diagnostics that provide objective measures.
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post #11 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:48am
You're looked at as an asshole if you tell someone they need to seek mental help.
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post #12 of 58
7/13/09 at 12:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
There are plenty of organic causes to mental illnesses and lots of diagnostics that provide objective measures.

I didn't say there weren't organic causes. I also didn't say there are no objective measures of mental illness. I said it is often subjective, and this is true. When we look at a broken bone on an x-ray, we can clearly see whether that bone is broken. However, while I'm aware that there are objective symptoms to mental illnesses, the degree to which these symptoms are a bother is still subjective in many cases. This being the case, there is still an element of subjectivity to psychology that doesn't exist as often in physical illness.

Also note that my post is a discussion of the stigma placed on mental illness. It is not a post meant to diminish or discuss the realities of mental illness itself. OP asked why the stigma exists, not whether mental illness exists, and my reply sought to answer that question.
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post #13 of 58
7/13/09 at 1:00am
I like the ups and downs moderate depression provides.
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post #14 of 58
7/13/09 at 1:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas View Post
Why the hush-hush act? I seriously wonder about this. What is to be gained by keeping these things quiet?
Simply put, "mental health issues" is a very, very broad phrase as is "mental illness." People know how to act around those affected with cancer, for example, because there is enough of a presence of it in the media and within their own lives. The same simply isn't true with mental conditions as causes, symptoms, and treatments are so complicated and complex. There is also the connection made between "mental illness" and a psychiatric hospital similar to the one with a gunshot wound and an OR; while the simple fact doesn't necessarily dictate the severity, in most cases people are likely to assume the worst based again on what I would blame on preconceived notions brought about by the general media. How often in movies or tv shows are mental disorders successfully treated with a minimum dosage of Xanax or lithium?
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post #15 of 58
7/13/09 at 1:06am
If you admit you have an issue, you're discriminated against because no one (especially employers) knows when you'll crash.
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