Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mental Illness Stigma, Devine Lewis

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

Mental illness stigma is a national issue prevalent due to common misconceptions of mental illness presented in media and entertainment outlets. The stigmatization of mental illness causes the increase of mental patients refusing to seek treatment, it prohibits the advancement of psychological science, and causes discrimination and prejudice towards the mental health community. Solutions to this issue include prioritizing awareness and advocacy for this issue as well as educating the general public with relevant and correct information/representations relevant to the mental health community. The increase of social interaction with mental health patients decreases the stigmatization of mental illness as does …