Psychology

Time has gone when mentally ill patients received mere medical care from healthcare professionals. More intervention has to be sought to help our individuals suffering from mental illnesses. One of these interventions is the avoidance of stigmatization towards the mental illnesses. Most of the problems faced by mentally-ill patients are caused by those around them, their family members, friends and other relatives (Fink  Tasman, 1992). Although it is against the medical ethics to mistreat mentally ill patients, some healthcare professionals have been found to cause stigma among these patients. The patients need love from all the people around them. Mentally ill patients need care and compassionate that will make them feel a sense of belonging (Fink  Tasman, 1992). The activities which they carry out do not consciously come out of their minds, but they are influenced by the mental state of their minds. This is reason enough to have a different perception towards them and loving them as members of the society.
Stigma causes mentally ill patients to be marked out as being different from the rest and also evokes some form of authority. Mental illnesses stigmatization has increased to levels more than the way cancer and epilepsy used to be stigmatized (Fink  Tasman, 1992). This has often resulted to discrimination against individuals suffering from the illnesses. Stigma is the leading obstacle that makes the mentally ill patients not to improve their qualities of lives. In the society, there are various attitudes held by people towards the mentally ill patients. These attitudes have even worsened the problem of caring for the mentally sick.  Stigmatization of mental illnesses has widely been the reaction from the members of the society and because of this reason the mental sickness issue has in large part been avoided. We try to develop a negative attitude to someone who may appear different from us mostly in a manner of negative stereotype. Any person who may present values which the society judges as negative is definitely stigmatized. The mentally ill patients have always reported that the barrier to a satisfying and complete life is stigma. The way we judge them and the manner we relate with them in a negative way has made their lives to be tasteless.  In general, the modern society does not feel comfortable dealing with or talking about mental illness. Unlike other diseases such as cancer or heart disease, mental illness is not perceived as some illness which can be treated. We always relate mental illness to bad omen in the family or some strange spiritual correlations. Due to misunderstanding about mental illnesses, we have come to view mentally sick patients as potentially dangerous and of weak character.  We often try to avoid the mentally sick people getting close to us yet they truly need our help. They need us to dress them up when they are naked. They dearly need us to feed them when they are hungry in order to keep up the energy needed in their bodies for performing tasks. If they dont eat they will not even realize they are hungry but get weak and weaker. It is therefore our responsibility to try helping them in day today activities such as feeding, bathing and dressing.

The only sure way that we can fight stigma in mental illnesses in the societies is through having enough knowledge about mental illnesses. Having the facts about mental illnesses will help solve the problem of stereotyping mentally ill patients. We should take it as a normal reaction when mentally ill individuals present some behavior. Even in normal situations, normal individuals get upset or sometimes get over depressed. In some situations, healthy humans may present signs of overreactions and sometimes thinking that everyone out there is up to get them and cannot cope with the situation. These are signs typical to mentally ill individuals which are also common to normal individuals. The only difference among the mentally ill individuals is that these actions and feelings become more overwhelming and enveloping.

It is necessary for us to understand that there is no specific way for developing mental illnesses and that anyone can be mentally sick. After we have understood this important element, we will no longer have any stigmatization against the mentally ill individuals. Genetic factors have been the most leading cause of mental illnesses and one does not choose which genes he or she should inherit from the parents. It is purely a natural phenomenon which no one can choose to become it is entirely directed by the way our genetic material, the DNA works. Sometimes, we should blame ourselves on the causes of mental illnesses such as severe child abuses, torture, war, poverty, abandonment or neglect, loss and isolation. The actions we take on other people can greatly cause mental illnesses but once they develop the condition, we feel that they have become different from us.

In general, no mater how individuals may develop serious mental illnesses, there is always a chance for them to have a productive and healthy life. There are always interventions that we should make to avoid stigmatizing mental illnesses because stigmatization is the leading cause of depriving mentally ill individuals of happy life.