Sarah Alexandra Bernstein’s “The Monster in the Closet: Misperception of Mental Illness” covers and talks about many of society’s perceptions pertaining to mental illnesses today and the wrong ways treatment for mental illness is approached. Juliann Garey’s “When Doctor’s Discriminate” is a personal story about Garey’s own experience with stigma against her mental illness, more specifically the stigma she received from doctors who treated her. The issue of mental illnesses in today’s society plays a role in the development of Amy Bloom’s short story “Silver Water” as a family’s struggle of a family member with a mental illness is portrayed and the conflict to receive effective therapy for this girl. There has been a deficit of proper treatment for mental illness for quite a while and this short story does an efficient job showing that and shedding light on the matter of what needs to change and what needs to be improved. 

A big issue that Bernstein argued in her article “The Monster in the Closet: Misperception of Mental Illness”, is that many societies have different views towards mental illness. A lot of times, mental illnesses are not accepted by society and that causes those who suffer with a mental illness to be embarrassed and ashamed. While many believe physical illnesses are out of a person’s control, Bernstein argues that many people view mental illnesses as controllable even though, more often than not, one suffers from a mental illness due to genetics. Bernstein’s entire article is to emphasize the problem with stigma and discrimination towards mental illnesses in today’s society. The biggest evidence of such discrimination is through the use of social or mass media. Often in television shows or movies, a character who is a villain or portrayed as crazy is created to have a mental illness. Mental illnesses are often joked about lightly through social or mass media which decreases the severity of the problem with mental illnesses. These portrayals of mental illnesses cause false assumptions by people and create a desire for people to distant themselves with people who may suffer from such diseases. Her strongest argument is that the source of the misperception of mental illnesses is the lack of knowledge the public has of it. Bernstein quotes in her article “When someone does not have correct knowledge or is misinformed, this often leads to uneasiness and trepidation, which leads to anger and negative attitudes that often compose stigma” (Bernstein page 16).  If you do not know about an illness, where it comes from or what its affects are, how would you ever be able to comprehend it, or even more importantly, accept it? 

Bernstein also presents that the problems with the misperceptions of mental illness are not the views themselves, but the negative effects and consequences they bring about. The biggest consequence of such prejudice is that it can cause a person to feel ashamed about themselves and their condition and prevent them from seeking proper treatment. When someone suffers from a mental illness, it is so important that they receive proper treatment and try to get help as soon as possible. Bernstein addresses such issues when she states, “Basically, mental illness diagnoses often come with the additional burden of a negative label that can prevent people from seeking care and cause social effects that encompasses family problems, difficulty obtaining jobs or obtaining public office positions” (Bernstein page 25). Mental illnesses can also put strains on their relationships with friends and family as well as cause themselves to distant themselves from any social interaction. The burden one feels with the liability of helping a loved one who suffers from a mental illness is great and if the situation worsens, it usually causes family members to fight and to suffer as well. Bernstein addresses that the loneliness and depression of those only worsen with such isolation and, in the long run, is causing more harm to them and making their condition worse. Another problem she covers is how people do interact with those who suffer from a mental illness. Sometimes people treat patients as incompetent or incapable of doing anything for themselves which causes them to have a lack of self-confidence and puts a strain on their motivation to get better. There is not only a problem with how people in society approach a mental illness, but also how a doctor approaches their patients with mental illness. Often doctors who work to help mental illnesses come about it the wrong way as well. Many doctors have good intentions as far as the patient is concerned but their approach is not beneficial or even good for the patient. She uses evidence to support this in her quote, “Research finds that some people with mental illness are incarcerated as an alternative due to the scarcity of mental health resources” (Bernstein page 29). It’s a growing problem that there is a lack of help for mental illnesses and that even when there is, it is not at a high-quality level. Bernstein finishes her article with the changes people need to make to eliminate the discrimination of mental illness. She highlights the importance of educating oneself about mental illness and the importance of those who suffer to receive proper treatment. Ultimately, Bernstein’s purpose is to address the issue of society’s attitudes towards mental illness and the effect it can have on those who suffer with such and why it is important, as a society, for us to take precautions in eliminating this stigma and discrimination so that people will seek and receive proper treatment and care.

Juliann Garey shares a personal insight to the stigma against mental illness patients as she herself suffers from Bi-Polar disorder. She has often received discrimination from society but the problem she specifically addresses in her article is the discrimination she receives from doctors she saw for treatment. She reveals that once a doctor is made aware that she is mentally ill, their motive to treat her becomes blur and they tend to blame any other problems she has on her mental illness, she defines this as “diagnostic overshadowing”. Garey does her own research and states “According to a review of studies done by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London, it happens a lot. As a result, people with a serious mental illness — including bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder — end up with wrong diagnoses and are under-treated” (Garey, When Doctors Discriminate). This is a huge problem today because people who suffer from a mental illness already receive discrimination from society and now they are experiencing the same problems in healthcare. 

Amy Blooms’ “Silver Water” is a short story that portrays the hardships of someone who suffers with mental illness including the difficulty in finding proper treatment and the hardships the condition can be on family. The main character, Violet, is the sister of Rose, who suffers from a mental illness that causes her to have psychiatric breaks. The story is all about the hardships the family goes to in relation to Rose’s suffering and the complications the family goes through in searching for a therapist that is efficient and effective for Rose’s condition. Rose saw many different therapists, most of which are terrible and do not help Rose in any way. Many of the doctors approached from a harsh standpoint or portrayed that they didn’t truly care about their patients. Even family therapists lacked what the family needed as far as help and, often, the therapist didn’t last long with the family. Rose had one therapist that was above and beyond and helped her in tremendous ways, Dr. Thorne. He came from an approach to treat her normal and not make her feel incompetent, the way someone who suffers with a mental illness should be approached. Rose was doing well for quite a long time until Dr. Thorne died and after that the family suffered tremendously and because of the lack of good therapy, Rose was eventually driven to suicide. Many of the problems Rose faced are ones that were caused because of the stigma against mental illness and as tragic as this story is, it sheds a light on problems that have been hidden. 

While “Silver Water” is an extreme example of such cases, Amy Bloom created this story from issues that are present today, such issues that are argued in Sarah Alexandra Bernstein’s “The Monster in the Closet: Misperception of Mental Illness”. The first problem that is evident, is the problem of someone who suffers from a mental illness being able to receive proper and helpful treatment. After the family notices and becomes aware that Rose has a problem, there attempt to get her help fails miserably several times in the factor of mental hospitals that approach mental illness in the wrong way. The quote I use from “Silver Water” is an example of the misunderstood perceptions of those with a mental illness and how they are approached the wrong way. “Rose was in hospitals, great and small, for the next ten years. She had lots of terrible therapists and a few good ones. One place had no pictures on the walls, no windows, and the patients all wore slippers with the hospital crest on them. My mother didn’t even bother to go to Admissions. She turned Rose around and the two of them marched out” (Bloom page 2). There is this misconception that patients with a mental illness have this mindset that lacks life and zest when, in reality, they are just the same as anyone else. They do not deserve to be treated in a way that isolates them from the world or creates them to be this alienated human. Doctors, in the same way, often approach their patients as not having the same deserved dignity or respect that they themselves deserve. They treat them as incompetent or dysfunctional while the mental illness that the patient suffers from is only a small part of the and should not completely define who they are as a person. This is supported in Garey’s article when she says “If you met me, you’d never know I was mentally ill. In fact, I’ve gone through most of my adult life without anyone ever knowing — except when I’ve had to reveal it to a doctor. And that revelation changes everything. It wipes clean the rest of my résumé, my education, my accomplishments, reduces me to a diagnosis” (Garey, When Doctors Discriminate). Living with a mental illness is difficult enough that receiving proper treatment should not be a barrier a patient has to deal with. A patient should be treated with dignity and respect just as anyone else in the world.

Another modern issue that is present in “Silver Water” is the strain that the lack of proper treatment puts on Rose’s family. When someone suffers from a mental illness, it is not only them who are affected by the disease. The mother, the father and the sister all have to have this burden and suffering from under the disease and it even tends to break the family apart. This is a problem that is present today, with the stigma that is related to mental illness comes the obligation to the family to put their life on hold for their loved one who suffers. “Mr. Walker said, ‘I wonder why it is that everyone is so entertained by Rose behaving inappropriately.’ Rose burped, and then we all laughed. This was the seventh family therapist we had seen, and none of them had lasted very long. Mr. Walker, unfortunately, was determined to do right by us. ‘What do you think of Rose’s behavior, Violet?’ They did this sometimes. In their manual it must say, If you think the parents are too weird, try talking to the sister” (Bloom page 3). While the family has dealt with multiple therapists that have failed, this one in particular stands out to the main character because of how evident it is that the doctor doesn’t genuinely care about the patient or the patients family. This type of therapist is one of the recurring types, one that it is obvious is in it for the money or for the benefits and not because they have a genuine passion to help people who suffer from a mental illness. This type of doctor is most likely the kind that labels their patient and feed in to the stigma that society places on those with a mental illness. While the family does have many terrible doctors, the positive types of treatment are evident in Dr. Thorne who has Rose’s successful therapist. “’O frabjous day, it’s Big Nut.’ Rose was in heaven and stopped massaging her breasts immediately. ‘Hey, Little Nut.’ You have to understand how big a man would have to be to call my sister ‘little.’ He christened us all, right away. ‘And it’s the good Doctor Nut, and Madame Hickory Nut, ‘cause they are the hardest damn nuts to crack, and over here in the overalls and not much else is No One’s Nut’ – a name that summed up both my sanity and my loneliness. We all relaxed. Dr. Thorne was good for us” (Bloom page 3) Dr. Thorne is so effective in the way he approaches Rose in a normal manner and doesn’t treat her like she’s a child or incapable of doing anything, he jokes around with her and her family and makes them feel comfortable. While many don’t consider it, those who suffer with a mental illness are aware of how they are treated differently and can tell the difference of the way they are talked to compared to others. Dr. Thorne holds no stigma or prejudice against those with a mental illness and is someone who genuinely cares about the people who he is helping. If all treatment was approached this way more patients would improve their condition and may even decrease the effects of it. 

Each of these problems regarding proper treatment are important to be acknowledged because they are problems that are present in society today. The stigma that has started in society has made its way into the healthcare of mental illness and it has caused treatment so hard to be effective. “These perceived thoughts toward mental illnesses are detrimental for the diagnosed and leads to intolerance from those who possess the prejudices; this has a major effect on people trying to cope with mental illness” (Bernstein pages 35-36). If more people were accepting and understanding of such diseases the approach would be more appropriate and helpful for the patient. As a community, there are ways that such problems can be decreased. The most important part in doing away with stigma is becoming knowledgeable and educated in the field of mental illness and understanding what causes it and what are ways that those who suffer are affected. To learn about where mental illness originates and what effects it has can go a long way for both those who suffer and those who must deal with a loved one that suffers. Whether it’s a disease such as depression or one that is a little heavier such as schizophrenia, if society comes to understand the illnesses it’ll go a long way for society to become more accepting of the illnesses. Ultimately, stigma and prejudice are created from fear and fear is created from the lack of knowing. If society knew more about the conditions that eliminates the fear and may even decrease the stigma the world has of mental illness. When Rose in “Silver Water” had a therapist who accepted her and her illness, she improved immensely and showed many signs of recovery. “We loved Dr. Thorne. My father went back to seeing rich neurotics and helped out one day a week at Dr. Thorne’s Walk-In Clinic. My mother finished a recording of Mozart concerti and played at fundraisers for Rose’s halfway house. I went back to college and found a wonderful linebacker from Texas to sleep with. In the dark, I would make him call me “darlin’.” Rose took her meds, lost about fifty pounds, and began singing at the A.M.E. Zion Church, down the street from the halfway house” (Bloom page 4). Not only does proper treatment improve the patient’s condition, but it also does so much for the family and their calmness with the situation as a whole. The acceptance and caring of Dr. Thorne goes a long way in this story and while it may be fiction, it’s because of what goes on in the world today, similar to Garey’s situation, that Bloom shaped this story to be what it is. Bloom expresses the true conceptions and the false conceptions of mental illness and inquired them in her piece to educate her audience in a way more than telling them, Bloom showed her audience through Rose’s life and her family’s life. 

Through Bernstein’s many arguments pertaining to the problems of the misconceptions of mental illness, Garey’s own personal story of the stigma she experienced in healthcare, and Bloom’s story that shows the many problems, both are successful pieces that educate the readers of the issues that are present in society. Whether it’s the stigma itself that is expressed to those with a mental illness or the problems the stigma causes, such as lack of proper treatment, it is an important topic in today’s society that needs to be acknowledged.  While there are many more problems than just those addressed, it remains emphasized that the best precaution society can take is to become more educated with mental illness so that society can be more accepting of mental illness. It’s a growing problem in the world around but with just a little effort, the problem can be reduced and proper treatment can be easier to obtain.
