A definition of health has never and will never be solid. Today, 2,416 years after the discovery of the three vitals, a standard concrete definition of health is still absent. The longest lasting definition of health or good health was written in 1946 in the Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization; it is as follows, "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (Preamble). Those who suffer from mental infirmities are not considered to be in good health Those who suffer from physical infirmities like a broken leg are not considered to be in good health. If the definition of good health is equal, why are those suffering from mental infirmities at a disadvantage for treatment? "It's because of the stigma" said a University of South Carolina (USC) student as he started to smile. The many stigmas around mental health create a kind of isolation that grows from fear. The stigma is a degrading attribute that has developed by the society we live in today.

The various stigmas surrounding mental health are similar to the stigmas surrounding cancer during the 1960s. Early cancer patients were subject to phrases like: cancer is embarrassing, shameful and degrading. Many were personally blamed or disowned by society. Resulting in isolation, which lowered early treatment rates, from fear of the disease and what people said or thought about it (Garfield). It was not until society would accept those who 

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suffered from the deadly disease, did the suffering seek help. Today, cancer patients around the world seek help at the first possible sight of cancer, raising survivor rates. While society 

comforts and houses, hopes and dreams that one-day no one ever experiences the misery cancer carries. At umttr, a non profit, created a community movement to eradicate the same stigmas that once surrounded cancer and now surround mental health. Umttr's team of champions are experienced and well informed on the importance of maintaining good mental health. We share and educate the youth that physical health is just as essential as mental health. By providing the tools to encourage and aid people who suffer from mental health infirmities to seek the provided and necessary treatment and help they deserve. After I reminiscence personal/peer experiences, explore the history of mental instability and conduct personal research, I concluded that medical, societal and technological advancements have left us in the first and only position to end the stigma the world has seen.

 The question that remains unanswered. If help is provided and also necessary, why are ones in need the last and least cared for, why are we as a society, the ones in good health only knowledgeable and responsible. We promote good health, we practice healthy habits, and we even sometimes point others towards good health. Let's turn the table, suddenly you feel changes, you feel hopeless, withdrawn from society, and you build enough strength to realize you do not even recognize yourself anymore. It never ventures outside but is prevalent; just like our swollen ankle after we broke it. You keep reminding yourself, I don't feel normal, I am hopeless, and I have been left by society. You dig yourself deeper and deeper into the dark hole, until you are so deep and so far gone, there is no way out. 

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the definition of good health, written seventy years ago, proves we are not in good health. You lack the state of complete mental and social well-being. Absent of diseases, mental or physical, and the outside we seem to be in complete physical shape. But never did you think nor anyone else ask, are you poor in health? How come after seventy years you, the one in poor health, unable to recognize it. The question never crossed our mind. Seventy years after a concrete definition of good health is established, you think we can rely on love ones and friends. Every day at school gets harder, every morning it gets harder to get out of bed to the point where you can not even find the motivation to take a shower. Even as you were conscious of these changes, you neglected the provided and necessary help you deserved. 

We, as a society have lived our entire lives with an instable definition of good health. Yet even without a mental illness yet, you too were unable to recognize an unbalanced state of mental and social well-being. Even after you heard it from yourself, you repeated: I am worthless, I am hopeless and I do not recognize myself anymore. Yet, you just kept digging: a hole without purpose, without destination, without light and most important, without yourself. 

You view yourself as an everlasting hole, digging deeper to their subsequent deaths. You, the sufferer, you are overhead that hole. You are not digging the hole; we are digging the hole. We, the individuals you cherish closest to you; your family, your friends, your teachers, your colleagues, your co-workers, and your mentors; and on an even grander perspective, your community, society and the world assists in digging your own hole. As a culture that buries resiliency, acceptance, and emotions, we seal the hole, restricting emotionally suffering 

                 Cashmere 4individuals. Only from above can the seal be broken. You view the hole from above, watching as your life falls deeper, diminishing into the shadows. Would you reach out to save yourself? The answer is probably no, because as a society we don't foster a culture that accepts mental illness, we bury it. Always remember, umttr. (You Matter)

On one side of the table sits those knowledgeable enough to seek the provided and necessary help satisfying the three states of good health. Next sits those who are not educated on the provided and necessary help to satisfy the three states of good health. Next are those who neglect the provided and necessary help to satisfy the three states of good health and lastly sits those who are knowledgeable enough to seek the provided and necessary help to satisfy the three states of good health but in turn share their knowledge with everyone. Once the hole started, it grew faster than those knowledgeable enough to seek and share help could keep up with. Eventually entire families, schools, communities, cultures, societies and the world as we know it today; created false thoughts, beliefs, and emotions about those who suffer from mental illnesses. We as a society created this hole and stigma, until some: one, thing, event, or organization creates a lasting compassionate culture where every person matters; we, society continues to dig deeper. It is essential to study the origins of the stigma to fully understand how hard it is to shake but also why it is time for society to accept this change.

The stigma will not end with a single event or organization, rather by creating a positive accepting culture where every person matters. Which then spreads through the world eradicating pervious miss conceptions of mental illnesses that date back to the first recordings of health. Mental illness is discovered in the early B.C era and starting in lower class citizens. 

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The first studies of mental health concluded that there are "three general theories of the etiology of mental illness: Super natural, somatogenic and psychogenic" (Farreras). Super natural theory believed mental illnesses attributed to the possession by evil, demonic or unsettled gods. Somatogenic theories suggest a physical appearance or function resulting from illness or genetic inherence. Psychogenic theories concentrate on distorted perceptions, false learned associations and cognition or traumatic or stressful situations. With the knowledge available at the time, it is clear that one felt a disconnect and superiority with an individual that acted or looked different, also known as someone who could have a mental illness. So from the first recordings of mental health research, the stigma has started. Already, societies in the B.C era are downgrading and rejecting those who suffer from the same mental illnesses society encounters today. Further treatment consisted of drilling holes through the skull to free the evil spirits that were trapped. Which obviously served as a way to eradicate those who were different. 

Throughout medical history the rise of Hippocrates was the turning point for medicine and even some modern medicine. In 400 B.C Hippocrates made his first attempt at separating supernatural spirits and religion from medicine. With his discovery of the four humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Hippocrates then began to study the human body and discovered with excess or scarce of one of the four humors resulted in illness. It is at the turn of the century when Hippocrates medical discover that we see the first societal shift in mental health culture (Tseng). Much like many philosophers of his time, Hippocrates did not believe mental illnesses were shameful nor should they be held accountable for their actions. Mental 

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illness barring families kept their young ones at home. They would be cared for by the family and no responsibility lies on the church or state. 400 B.C on, other than brain research and knowledge, no major mental illness discoveries have been made. Hippocrates was the first to challenge pervious mental health stigmas. He founded a culture that today, almost two thousand years later, is still challenging the miss conceptions that have developed and spread into the society we know today. But the world has never had an opportunity to end the stigma. Because of the many advancements that have developed over time the world and society is now prepared with the knowledge that the stigma must be eradicated. 

My personal research on campus supports that today we still accept those miss conceptions that have developed from the first mental health research. While also supporting the fact that while society still accepts them, society has come accept that in the moment anyone has the power to reach out and help. I skipped the obvious questions researchers would ask, what is a stigma or do you think there is a stigma surrounding mental health? I wanted to know why mentally healthy students studying in the library thought that students who could not be in their position because of no fault of their own, kept their feelings and emotions bottled inside of them. The stigma creates a kind of isolation that grows from fear. So I started my field research by simply asking random USC students in the library if they knew the fact, "one in four people suffer from a mental illness." I followed that question with another one, "why do you think these people who suffer from depression or any mental illness, keep it to themselves rather than share with others?" 

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My first claim that a stigma surrounds mental health correlates with one answer and one observation. The simple answer of "I don't know" and the noticeable facial expressions. One girl even started blushing while the rest of her body became red, I am content in saying that wasn't my last and only question for her. Yet simply questioning the stigma sparked the beginning of her road to freedom from the stigma. It is evident the stigma does exist, some USC students simply avoided the question entirely. Because maybe if they "looked the other way," they wouldn't become uncomfortable. I can say that my favorite answer is, "I don't know," because it leaves that much more time to share my knowledge. Even more so, the girl suffered from depressing and negative thoughts but had never spoke her feelings with anyone other than her family. But after our conversation I know for a fact she is sharing knowledge, ending the stigma herself. She stands as perfect example the stigma is present because she was living it until I broke her silence. Before and after our conversation she is experiencing all of the reasons as to why the stigma does exist.

The answers I got from the rest of my applicants were skewed towards knowledge of the stigma without using the word or ability to explain it. Only one person knew one in four people suffer from a mental illness. All other USC students learned something that day. All other students gave answers that support a stigma surrounding mental health: "it is embarrassing, they don't know how, they could be blamed or disowned." It just so happens that the first male student I surveyed knew many people suffered and brought a smile to my face with his answer to the second question, "it is because of the stigma." His friend, a female who answered first, said people keep feelings to themselves because they would feel more

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vulnerable than before. When I asked her and all other students, "if someone ever opened up to you would you physically or emotionally harm them." She answered similar to her peers, "obviously not. I would talk with them." As I do on a daily basis, I shared my knowledge. If they wouldn't question ones' vulnerability, strength, knowledge or role in society after speaking out. What made them answer that way? Some would even befriend, others talking with or helping, yet their answer still supports the existence of the stigma. Students are unconsciously aware of the stigma but still gave the answers that fuel the fire. After sharing knowledge of the stigma students pondered how and why they came to the answer they did. Forcing personal realization, their answer was correct but if they wouldn't act their answer, why did they say it? Students need to know and support that it is okay to not be okay (Ozel). Mental Health Simply by sharing knowledge students involuntary had a personal and societal realization. I didn't convince, persuade, convert or question their attitudes or feelings about mental health. I educated and shared knowledge to one person at a time, ending the stigma one person at a time.

Today societal combined with technological and medical advancements have fostered a world that after two thousand years later, is finally ready to eradicate the stigma. The stigma has been preventing individuals from reaching out and actually seeking help since the BC era. Per Dori Hutchinson, director of service for the Center for Psychiatric Rehab at Boston University, "There is enormous shame around mental health and so many people feel like if they're struggling, it's a shameful experience" (Wallace).  The previous factors of the stigma, 

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result in students not reaching out for help, underutilizing the counseling services and health centers provided. Resulting in an increasing death rate from a mental illness. 

Eradicating the stigma will in turn lead to the utilization of counseling services which is proven to save lives. A method that involves the general population and the at-risk groups must be present in order to be effective. The National Mental Health Association and the Jed Foundation have established a seven-point plan to combat the stigma (Mental Health). The plan is (1) identify students who are at risk, (2) increase help-seeking behavior, (3) provide mental health services, (4) follow crisis management procedures, (5) restrict access to potentially lethal resources, (6) develop life skills, and (7) promote social networks (Knox). This seven-point plan must also include youth groups, campus clubs, and non-profits that can provide social outreach and open up the conversation for the societies youth. By providing the tools to encourage and aid people who suffer from mental health infirmities to seek the provided and necessary treatment and help they deserve, those suffering from a mental illness will in turn feel that their mental illness is valued and associated with those of physical illnesses. It will feel just as important to seek and obtain treatment when you are not feeling yourself, as it is now to seek and obtain treatment when you break your arm. Those in mental health institutions will start to see just as many visitors as hospitals and just as many "feel better" cards and balloons. Through my personal/peer experiences, knowledge of the history of mental instability and personal research, I am confident that the medical, societal and technological advancements we know today, have left us in the first and only position to end the stigma the world has seen. 

