| Mental illness can strike anyone! It knows | | | | people with mental illnesses may experience |
| no age limits, economic status, race, creed | | | | hostility, discrimination, and stigma.Why |
| or color. During the course of a year, more | | | | does stigma still exist?Unfortunately, the |
| than 54 million Americans are affected by one | | | | media is responsible for many of the |
| or more mental disorders.Medical science has | | | | misconceptions which persist about people |
| made incredible progress over the last | | | | with mental illnesses. Newspapers, in |
| century in helping us understand, curing and | | | | particular, often stress a history of mental |
| eliminating the causes of many diseases | | | | illness in the backgrounds of people who |
| including mental illnesses. However, while | | | | commit crimes of violence.Newspapers, in |
| doctors continue to solve some of the | | | | particular, often stress a history of mental |
| mysteries of the brain, many of its functions | | | | illness in the backgrounds of people who |
| remain a puzzle.Even at the leading research | | | | commit crimes of violence. Television news |
| centers, no one fully understands how the | | | | programs frequently sensationalize crimes |
| brain works or why it malfunctions. However, | | | | where persons with mental illnesses are |
| researchers have determined that many mental | | | | involved.Comedians make fun of people with |
| illnesses are probably the result of chemical | | | | mental illnesses, using their disabilities as |
| imbalances in the brain. These imbalances may | | | | a source of humor. Also, national |
| be inherited, or may develop because of | | | | advertisers use stigmatizing images as |
| excessive stress or substance abuse.It is | | | | promotional gimmicks to sell |
| sometimes easy to forget that our brain, like | | | | products.Ironically, the media also offers |
| all of our other organs, is vulnerable to | | | | our best hope for eradicating stigma because |
| disease. People with mental illnesses often | | | | of its power to educate and influence public |
| exhibit many types of behaviors such as | | | | opinion.What Is A Mental Illness?A mental |
| extreme sadness and irritability, and in more | | | | illness is a disease that causes mild to |
| severe cases, they may also suffer from | | | | severe disturbances in thinking, perception |
| hallucinations and total withdrawal. Instead | | | | and behavior. |
| of receiving compassion and acceptance, | | | | |