Depression

Stigma comes from a lack of information. It’s more difficult to judge and stereotype something you have personal involvement with. Categorizing and characterizing people with mental illness is easier than taking the time to understand them or understand the mental illness they might be living with. A lack of education and awareness about mental health causes those who have mental health issues to suffer, in many ways. Stigma can prevent someone who is suffering from the symptoms of a mental illness from seeking the help or treatment they need. In recent years, stigma is what prevented the government and major insurance providers from recognizing mental illness as a serious medical issue. Today, awareness is increasing, but there is still much farther to go. Michigan State University released a study which examined how much people seem to know about mental illness. Using an internet survey as the method, 4,600 people provided data for the researchers to work with. The survey was not simple question and answer. Instead, the researchers provided participants with vignettes, or small stories about a fictional individual. After the story, the participants were asked to provide insight on what might be going on with that person and what would provide the most help to them. Most importantly, the participants had to respond to statements regarding stigma. Bustle reports, “The questions to measure stigma asked participants to respond thinking about themselves and separately about their communities, to statements like ‘If [I/most people in my community] had a problem like [this person’s] I would not tell anyone.’” The results were startling. It revealed that there aren’t just some areas of mental health that the general public needs more help in understanding. Bustle writes that the study “gave a big-picture look at just where more information needed to be targeted. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be "everywhere."

Walking depression is not a clinical term, but it aptly describes an in between phase of depression. Mental health disorders can be high functioning. Just because someone doesn’t look like they have a mental health disorder or act like they have a mental health disorder doesn’t mean they don’t have a mental health disorder. Upon learning a friend or loved one is struggling with a mental health disorder like depression, friends often have a comment to make. “You act so happy!” “You do so great in your job!” “You would never know!”. While meant to be supportive these comments can be damaging. Mental illness comes with a tremendous stigma attached to it. Some people are high functioning in their depression so that it isn’t noticed by other people. Stigma creates shame which leads many to hide their suffering. As a result, they continue to suffer without the proper psychological and pharmaceutical care. Negative Impact on Life Creativity Coach Alison Gresik writes that while someone is functioning well and taking care on the outside, “we’re doing it all while profoundly unhappy. Depression is negatively impacting our lives and relationships and impairing our abilities. Our depression may not be completely disabling, but it’s real.” Gresik cites these 8 signs as being indicators of a “walking” depression: