Stigma and Mental Health: can you distinguish the individual from the illness?

Reading time: 4 minutes

“I’m not the illness itself. It’s hard not to feel like that when everyone treats you like one”.

– Words on Bathroom Walls (2020)

Can you tell apart the difference between illness and individual?

Can you see the human being beyond the mental health?

Can you go beyond the stigma that impacts mental illnesses still nowadays?

These are some questions I often ask myself and that leave me without a clear answer.

Honestly, I think most people would find it difficult to answer truthfully: perhaps they deeply know the answer to these reflections, but at the same time society pushes them towards the opposite direction.

On one hand, they would say they perfectly know that human beings and mental illnesses do not coincide. However, on the other hand, it is almost impossible for them to overcome stereotypes.

Is the former option social desirability?

Is the latter bias?

I believe that the real answer doesn’t come from healthy people’s perspective, but we should embrace what patients think about it: as Adam Petrazelli, the protagonist of the movie “Words on Bathroom Walls”, states, we shouldn’t strive to find a theoretical answer, but we should consider feelings.

Indeed, as he points out, it is quite impossible for the patients themselves to disentangle between their identity and their illness if everybody else makes the same mistake.

In my opinion, in the world, the representation of mental health is still a strong source of bias, and the role psychologists play is not acknowledged enough: people that suffer are feared and professionals are rejected.

This means the mental health stigma is still present in our society: unfortunately, this is not only a matter of generations, as young people are victims of this prejudice as well.

I think that the magic formula to reduce stereotypes and improve people’s knowledge about psychology and psychologists doesn’t exist: change is a long process that starts from childhood, develops, matures and goes on throughout our entire life.

For sure, people can be educated, but first of all, they must be willing to acknowledge their ignorance and their limits and be open to this topic. If this doesn’t occur, the risk will be falling into a vicious circularity. 

This means that people have to change to improve society, but also society needs to change so that people can improve as well.

That’s why I strongly believe in education: today, professionals and future generations can make the difference by leaving a mark and embracing mental health in daily life.

Indeed, as we can understand by watching the movie “Words on Bathroom Walls”, pain is subjective and cannot be really quantified. However, through education, openness and curiosity, it may be possible to reverse this belief and embrace understanding and sensitivity.

By Arianna Corbetta

arianna.corbetta01@icatt.it

Bibliography

Shilaimon, P., Liddell, M., Freudenthal, T., & Freudenthal, T. (2020). Words on Bathroom Walls. United States of America: Roadside Attractions.