Title: How the Stigma Around Mental Illness Medication Prevents People from Seeking Help | Shape
Headings: The Stigma Around Psychiatric Medication Is Forcing People to Suffer In Silence
The Stigma Around Psychiatric Medication Is Forcing People to Suffer In Silence
The Origin of the Stigma
An Early Look at Mental Health
Survival of the Fitt...ing In
Systemic Stigma
Threat of Discrimination
Racial Barriers
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Social Stigma
The Silent Treatment
Guilt By Association
American Culture
The "Label" Problem
Medication Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
Medical Concerns
Fear of Addiction and Medical Double Standards
Fear of Side Effects
Misinformation About "Natural" Approaches
What Does "Natural" Mean?
You Don't Have to Choose Between Natural and Pharmaceutical
Sometimes Both Is Better
How to Overcome the Stigma
Talk About It
Vocabulary Is Important
Educate Yourself and Others
Take Care of Yourself

Content: People with different types of mood disorders or mental illness have been considered "alien" for a long time. " At the beginning of modern medicine, the conditions then recognized as mental illness — such as 'mania' and 'schizophrenia' — had behavioral signs obvious to most people who viewed them as forms of madness, and lead to hospitalization in asylums treated by doctors called 'alienists,' because they treated people who were alienated from their group," says Dr. Herrick. Basically, those with mental conditions were largely left untreated, which led to their behaviors being drastically divergent from the 'normalcy' of their groups, which (as you might've guessed) then led them to be ostracized or banished from their groups. And as we're genetically programmed to 'need' our social circles for survival, we then interpret any kind of mental health issue as a fast track to losing everything. Having a mental condition threatened survival from a social standpoint. Systemic Stigma
Stigma doesn't just stem from our social circles — and it's not just a matter of being judged by peers. Some stigma is built into our societal structure. Threat of Discrimination
"Receiving mental health treatment, including medications, can lead to [illegal] discrimination at work, with housing, and with insurance," says Dr. Upshaw. " Specific jobs require people to disclose mental health problems, and they may even go as far as requiring the patient's physician to list the medications the patient is taking; these rules are not always based on scientific evidence and can border on discrimination."