According to the Center for Disease Control, over 40,000 people ended their lives in the United States in 2013 alone ("Suicide"). It's hard to find someone that doesn't personally know someone who has committed suicide. Too many people have a friend or loved one who committed suicide and their story, mine just happens to be Jake Eyering. He was a good man and a better friend that had bipolar depression. However, I was completely unaware that he was battling depression until he killed himself on October 13th 2015. I think that he largely didn't tell people about it because he didn't want to be judged or have people look down upon him. Why is that a problem? That is not just a problem, that is the problem. There is currently a large stigma surrounding mental illnesses. Mental illnesses can lead to many negative physical health problems and stigma towards mental illnesses leads to people getting criticized by family, friends, and colleagues for mental illnesses and getting discriminated against. The whole conversation around mental illnesses needs to change in order for people to more openly get help. Mental illnesses need to be treated more like physical illnesses in the United States and this can be done by educating people about mental health in middle schools across America in middle schools. All the negative stigma towards mental illnesses needs to stop in order to make mental illnesses more manageable.

Mental illnesses can cause a plethora of other issues when they are left untreated: it can be a block in learning and education, lead to substance abuse, and lead to other preventable physical illnesses. Mental illnesses can even be a major block to learning in the classroom. Alvarado Beatriz talks about this in a newspaper article pointing out that, "It's hard to get a kid to learn, to focus ... if they haven't eaten in a while. Or if they are dealing with depression" (Alverdo 1). If a student is trying to battle a mental illness on their own, then they are going to have less time and effort to put towards school. So in school's mental illnesses should to talked about, not only to better people's lives but to directly get more out of their students. Another thing that parents and schools alike are worried about besides grades is drugs. There are plenty of school functions and programs trying to reduce drug and alcohol use among teens. But why not battle substance abuse by battling mental illnesses. In a report by Alison Knopf a direct correlation between teen substance abuse and mental illnesses is found. The article finds that mental illnesses are often the root of substance abuse and that treating the mental illness could lead to stopping the substance abuse (Knopf). So if schools want to stop substance abuse than it is vital to implement a program to help with mental illnesses. But besides substance abuse mental illnesses have also been found to have a correlation with higher risk for preventable diseases. In one screening it was found that, "people with serious mental illnesses experience multiple health disparities, higher medical morbidity, and lifespans 10 -- 30 years shorter on average than the general population" (Cook 1). The main reason for this speculated was that people with mental illnesses are less likely to seek treatment for physical illnesses, have worse diets, and are less likely to utilize health care systems. That is a significant amount of time for a life time expectancy to be shortened. But with less stigma there could be more treatment in mental illnesses and those numbers could be battled. More people would get help and more people would take care of their bodies once there are getting help. All this could be helped if stigma was reduced.

Sigma is the source of a lot of negative aspects for people with mental illnesses. Stigma around mental illnesses is can create discrimination and stereotyping towards people with mental illnesses. This discrimination can be in the workplace or at home but always consist of being disadvantaged because of stereotypical views of mental illnesses. The effects of having a mental illness in the workplace can be life impacting. People will view mental illnesses as handicapping and think less of a person with a mental illness. They will see stereotypical views of people in the news and make assumptions about a person with a mental illness that are just untrue. It is a fact that "Citizens are less likely to hire persons with mental illness, less likely to rent them apartments, and more likely to falsely press charges for violent crimes" (Nicolas 530). People can get wrongfully fired and kept out of jobs because of their mental illness. All of these are unfair disadvantages that are put upon people who are already working on their mental illness. We should be more accepting of people with mental illnesses but because of misinformation and stereotyping we are doing the opposite. What is causing all of this misinformation is the fact that people don't generally talk about mental illnesses. So employers and fellow employees have nothing but the stereotypical views of people with mental illnesses. Someone should not have to go to work in fear of facing discrimination because of their mental illness.

These negative ideas and stereotypies are generally created by the media. In one article Alastair Benbow argues that the media is the main reason for stigma and says that the media perceives people with mental illnesses as "dangerous or unpredictable" (Benbow 31). Although this article argues that it is the medias job to fix the current views of mental illnesses, if people talked about mental illnesses more casually then people would learn about mental illness patients around them and the struggles they have with mental illnesses. This would lead them to have a more real examples to ground what certain mental illnesses are and how they affect people. Currently though mental illness is seen as an awkward or taboo topic to talk about with others, so the medias view of people with mental illnesses is what is imprinted into people's minds. One of the greatest consequences of this created stigma is that it can act as a barrier between people and treatment.

The biggest problems that surrounds stigma towards mental illness is that it stops people from seeking and getting treatment. Stigma can stop someone from getting treatment in many different ways such as: someone not wanting other people to know they have a mental illness, denying that they have a mental illness, and even stopping people from continuing treatment due to negative backlash from peers. No matter how stigma blocks a person from treatment it, is bad. Not getting treatment for a mental illness can let it spiral out of control and can lead to things like suicide. Since having a mental illness can negatively affect someone's life outside the illness, people will often know they have a mental illness and not get treatment because they do not want others to know that they have a mental illness. People don't want to be involved in all the negative stereotypes that surround mental illnesses. So to avoid it they don't get treatment so it doesn't get out. This is opposite of what should happen but stigma is blocking the person from getting treatment.

Another way that stigma can act as a block between a person and treatment is by making people misidentify mental illnesses. People can think of mental illnesses as the stereotyped disease and not think they have it. People will often deny that they have a mental illness because they do not want to be grouped with the stereotype or think that they must fit a stereotype to have that mental illness. This is prevalent in all ages. In one survey, of medical student, at a university it was found that there was a general stigma and that anti-stigma campaigns where needed (Pingani 1). Stigma is stopping people from getting treatment through stereotyping and this stereotyping is even found from a survey in the medical field. If even medical students are stereotyping people with mental illnesses, then the issue is very deep seated. Medical students are going to be the ones possibly helping someone with a mental illness. So even in the hands of professionals who are going to help someone with mental illness people are still going to face stigma.

When someone seeks treatment and faces stigma it can even lead to them dropping out of treatment. Even if someone overcomes all these obstacles and seeks treatment stigma can still end up making them leave treatment. It is not a rare occurrence that someone will drop out of treatment in the early stages. This is because once a person starts treatment for a mental illness more people will know about that person's mental illness and discriminate against it. One study was conducted in outpatients with depression to determine if perceived stigma affected treatment discontinuation. It was found that, "stigma toward individuals with mental illness predicts early treatment discontinuation in elderly patients with major depression" (Sirey 480). So the more stigma that a person perceived about depression the more likely they were to drop out of treatment and not seek other treatment. Stigma not only affects people by just the discrimination but the perception of discrimination too. If a person thinks that they will get negative reactions to getting treatment, then that is just as bad as if they do get negative reactions. All these views of mental illnesses from the inside and outside are negatively affecting people with mental illness and are serving as a mental block to getting treatment. So what needs to happen is mental illnesses need to be treated like physical illnesses.

Mental illnesses need to be talked about and treated like physical illnesses. When someone breaks an arm they go to the doctor and get a cast. When someone is suffering from depression they should go to the doctor and seek help. Physical illnesses are manageable just like a well-managed mental illness. If someone finds a treatment that works, then the episodes they will have will be manageable and controlled. Similarly, if someone needs to take some time off for their mental health they should be given it just like someone who takes off time for a physical illness. If we eliminate stigma towards mental illnesses, more people can understand how mental illnesses affect people and accommodate them in the workplace the same way that people with physical illnesses are accommodated. But in the current state people with mental illnesses are shamed for having a mental illness and mental health is seen as secondary to physical health. In one study of managers it was found that "more than two-thirds, 68%, said they would be more sympathetic towards employees with a physical illness than those suffering from mental illness, while two-fifths also admitted they 'struggled' to take mental illness seriously" (Manos 7). Managers are treating physical illnesses above mental illnesses constantly and are so stigmatized that some of them are even having trouble talking mental illnesses seriously. If we want people to improve the state of their mental illness, then we have to give them the space to do it.

However, some people argue that mental illnesses shouldn't be treated like physical illnesses. A common conception is that mental illnesses are brought about by a person and that it is all in their head. Mental illnesses can be seen as a preventable thing. That you can stop yourself from being depressed but you can't stop yourself from breaking an arm so why should they be treated the same? However mental illnesses are not that simple. In fact, this argument is an embodiment of stigma itself. But even if mental illnesses are completely controllable and preventable then we should still be pushing for education. In this way of thinking mental illnesses can still be seen as an effecting factor but something that could be stopped like obesity. But the "Let's Move" campaign was started by Michelle Obama to help with obesity. So a similar effort be taken towards mental health. Let's move "mobilizes public and private sector resources" and is a national campaign and the same treatment should be given towards mental health ("first"). Whichever way you look at it education is needed on mental illnesses.

Education on mental illness in middle schools is the best way to alleviate stigma related to mental illnesses and get people to seek out treatment when they need it and have mental illnesses treated like physical ones. At a very young age people start to pick up on what is socially acceptable and what is not. In early education children are not just learning basic scholarly information but also what is socially acceptable and how people interact with each other. This is why we teach our children about proper physical health with physical education. It is important to teach life skills while children are still young enough for it to make an imprint and old enough to remember and interpret the information. Mental health is just as important as physical health. You are stuck with your brain your whole life and you have to take care of it just like you do your body. By educating in middle school it will never be weird to talk about mental illnesses with peers. To get rid of stigma it is best to stop it before it develops. It is harder to go back and say that you should be talking about mental health and try to undo the taboo surrounding a topic than to just make the topic not taboo in the first place. Teaching about mental health can lead people to have correct views of mental illnesses and what it's like to have one if people are educated on the actual effects of mental illnesses. This can then lead to less stigma. Then less stigma will lead to more treatment for those in need. Generation by generation stigma can be eliminated in the United States by an early education program and mental illnesses can be treated as equal to physical illnesses. When shaping our kid's future, we need to say that yes it is okay to talk about mental illnesses and treatment for such is very important. It is important for so many different reasons to reduce stigma and increase treatment for mental illnesses.

Reducing stigma is very important in the United States for many reasons. People with mental illnesses do not deserve to be discriminated against and treated unfairly. Stigma is leading people away from treatment when we need to be leading people to treatment. Mental illnesses cannot just go untreated. This is why a middle school program needs to be implemented to reduce upon mental illness stigma. Once this is done more people will be able to get treatment for their mental illness and this will lead to many other problems being solved. More people would be openly talking about mental illnesses and mental health and people would more freely explore treatment options. People with eating disorders can find help and try and get better. People with severe anxiety can work through and on their anxiety. People with depression can start to find a path to happiness. We can get closer to mental illnesses being treated like physical illnesses. We will have less of those friends who decide to end their lives and more of friends that reach out for help. We need to work on implementing an education program soon. If all this is implemented I feel that more suicides, like Jakes, can be prevented and people with mental illnesses can generally be happier.

