Mental Health Stigma

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There are still attitudes and cultures that views symptoms of psychopathology as threatening and uncomfortable, and these attitudes frequently foster stigma and discrimination towards people with mental health problems. Such reactions are common when people are brave enough to admit they have a mental health problem, and they can often lead on to various forms of exclusion or discrimination – either within social circles or within the workplace. Mental health stigma is classified in two parts: social stigma and perceived stigma. For example, people with mental illness may be blamed for their illness or viewed as lazy or irresponsible. An example of clear schizophrenia may be people who believe that they are being persecuted unjustly may be …show more content…
The Bible mentions an epileptic man in Matthew 17, “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly…” The Bible, which takes an unfiltered approach to real life, is not silent on mental illness. Nebuchadnezzar and Saul both suffered from mental illness ((Dan 4:30-37; 1 Sam 7:1-31:13), and it can be argued that David, Jacob and Elijah himself had bouts of depression. Matthew 4:24 depict one account of Jesus healing someone of mental illness: And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought to him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them