The reason that there is so much stigma around mental illness has a lot to do with social media. Social media is a powerful tool to get messages across, but it is also good at manipulating those messages either to something good or something bad. For myself when I go on social media and see something posted about metnal illness it changes my perception of what I thought I knew about mental illness. I think the stigma towards mental illness is negative because social media makes it seem like a person is weak or has a disability if they have a mental illness. I know that when I go on social media I see ten different things about mental illness and its hard to separate what is true and what is fake. I think the best way to learn about mental illness is through people who are fighting through it and I think that everyone should learn that way because it will help to change the stigma around mental illness.

Culture plays a huge role in mental illness and if someone acknowledges it or not. For example, a mother could be really depressed and anxious but she might just brush it off as being stressed out because of her job and taking care of a family. It might be hard for a mother to admit that because she is supposed to be there for her family and take care of them. I think that certain cultures or genders have their own stigmas around mental illness that can cause a person not to acknowledge that they have a mental illness. The way that certain cultures are may hold a person back from admiting that they have a mental illness because of the response that they may get. I think that if a person acknowledges that they have a mental illness they shouldn’t feel like they have to hide it, but feel supported if they tell someone and know that they can get help within their culture or family.