Running head: THE STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS 2 Running head: THE STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS The Stigma of Mental Illness The Stigma of Mental Illness The importance of stigma and the lack of mental support has suffered throughout history. Ask yourself, if people with mental issues and the lack of support should change and be accepted into all social norms? Or should they continue to not be supported over something they have no control over? Stigma has been well-defined as undesirable opinions, observations and relations which can cause discrimination according to the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, (2014). Mental illness is a syndrome that affects your mood, thought process, actions and present distress in social functions and occupational involvements. As a result of mental distress, intimidation, brutality and alienation has been known to take place because people feel you may be unstable or dangerous, which is due to the distancing that is the place between each other, in addition to rejection and abandonment their reactions may become negative and sometimes violent in the nature of harming themselves or committing suicide all because of the lack of understanding of what mental illness is and how it affects the individual. Mental illness stigmatization can also result in a poor understanding amongst family members and as an end result making them feel they are not able to seek treatment, or cure and cause the individual to seek other options when they feel they have no one that can help them understand what’s going on with themselves. These other options include marijuana, alcohol, prescription drugs and cigarettes can be a great start for those people scared to seek help with mental health issues Aviram, R. B., Brodsky, B. S. (2006). This is where peer support is needed, it is so important for mental health patients to realize they have a sense of belonging and that they are not alone when dealing with their mental health issues. According to the SAMHSA.gov, peer support is one of the strategies that can help you to improve the state of mental health in America. Access to peer support is an effective way of enhancing the quality of life when always understand peer support as any form of assistance that comes from people who share characteristics or experiences relating to things that are in common. For instance, for patients with mental health issues, peer support includes: knowledge, emotional and social assistance that one may get from a person who has the same experiences. Additionally, mental illness stigmatization can result in insufficient health insurance coverage of mental ailments by organizations. This can include being turned down for job opportunities or recognitions due to their illness. People with emotional disabilities tend to have issues with .