Stigmas around mental illness usually stem from a lack of awareness, education, perception, and complications of different types of mental illnesses. Depression is a mental illness that many people do not understand. You may look at a celebrity who is suffering from depression and think that they have no reason to be “sad” and that they should just snap out of it. Others may look at people with anxiety and depression and assume that they are ungrateful for what they have in life. Another mental illness that is very misunderstood is schizophrenia, and that could lead to violence in those who suffer from it because people may look at them as criminals. So, the lack of general education on each specific mental illness create stigmas. The way the world views mental illnesses would cause someone to internalize those feelings and create a self-stigma. For example, people tend to internalize depression and anxiety because of the way people view it. Since people who are uneducated view depression as something that can be controlled, the person with depression is more likely to keep it to themselves and put on a show to act what the world views as “normal.”

            A person’s culture may impact the way that they view illnesses and how they should be treated. Different cultures/ religions believe in different ways to take on any illness in general. Some believe in medicine and some do not. If you put that into consideration when talking about people who suffer from mental illness, some may have medications to make it less severe and others do not. Different cultures/ religions have expectations that people should follow, which cause them to have internalized anxiety or depression due to all of the pressure. For example, the catholic religion has a lot of “ideas” put in place on what a perfect catholic is expected to be. If a catholic person does not meet those standards, they may look at themselves as less than they are leading to mental illness. These ideas go along with how stigmas are created as well. Not everyone is able to understand mental illness as it is, especially when it is affected by cultural views.