By Katelyn O’Callaghan ’25
Features Editor
ocallaghankch1@lakeforest.edu
Psychotic killers in movies, horrific news coverage of the mentally ill, and Instagram posts glorifying anxiety and depression have become the leading narrative for mental illness. Not only are these depictions inaccurate, but they create harmful stigmas, affecting the daily lives of people with mental disorders.
According to Hopkinson Medicine, one in four adults suffer from mental illness. Despite millions struggling with mental health, harmful stigmas prevail. The media plays a significant role in creating these stigmas, often portraying mentally ill people as violent, psychotic, and unpredictable. In reality, only 3 to 5 percent of violent acts are attributed to individuals with mental illness. In fact, people with severe mental illnesses are 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population.
Holly Ellis, a psychiatrist and nurse practitioner, works extensively in outpatient and inpatient programs. She has experience in treating an array of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, behavioral issues, and bipolar disorders. Throughout her career, Ellis has witnessed a positive shift in the culture surrounding mental illness. However, she believes that there is more work to be done to break stigmas with less common mental disorders.
“We are more accepting of anxiety and depression because they are more common, and depicted in a more positive light in the media,” Ellis says. “We get less accepting when these disorders get more extreme. Though we have made progress, the door is still quite closed on more stigmatized illnesses such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and any other psychosis-type diagnoses.”
One highly stigmatized mental illness is dissociative identity disorder (DID). The disorder is a severe form of dissociation, a disconnection in a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. It is characterized by two or more distinct personalities that continually have control over a person’s behavior. DID stems from several factors that include, but aren’t limited to, severe trauma and repetitive abuse.
Soleil, a person who suffers from DID, is an active member of the online DID support community. One of her alters, Emma, who was in control at the time of this interview, believes that many stigmas surround the disorder due to the media and society’s general lack of awareness about DID.
“A lot of people follow an older way of thinking. Some believe DID is caused by demonic possession,” Emma says. “Media portrayal has not helped, with the idea of a murderous alter just waiting to come out.”
Nurse Practitioner and owner of the practice MindBodySoul Psychiatry, Tink Hansen, has worked in psychiatry for over 40 years. Hansen specializes in many highly stigmatized disorders and believes that part of the stigma stems from fear.
“Mental illness isn’t something you can see. It’s not like a heart condition or a bruise or a cut. The media taps into people’s fear and into harmful stereotypes, which creates so many problems for people with mental illnesses. They are denied jobs, social acceptance, and even mental health care in fear that they are violent and murderous,” Hansen says.
Emma experiences the effects of stigmas associated with DID in her everyday life. Many psychiatrists do not consider DID to be a mental illness, despite its recognition in the DSM-5, a manual for assessing and diagnosing mental disorders.
“As a system, we have other mental health struggles besides DID, so we have been turned down for treatment because we are too complex of a case. Even though DID is recognized in the DSM-5, psychiatrists have told us that we couldn’t have DID because it’s not real, or it’s very rare, which is not true and uninformed. It’s not as common as other illnesses, but it’s as common as red hair,” Emma says. “We have also been let go from jobs because of it. Once employers find out about our disorder, they get scared.”
Not only does the media create stigma, but it can also influence people with mental disorders to mimic unhealthy coping mechanisms and behavior.
“Shows like 13 Reasons Why showed depression and suicide in an extremely unhealthy and glamorizing way. Because of that, a lot of those individuals repeated what they saw in that specific TV show,” Ellis says.
While disorders like DID, bipolar, and schizophrenia are demonized in the media, anxiety and depression are often romanticized on social media. Many users create posts that depict mental illness in an enticing or glamourous manner. Often they are portrayed as quirky, trendy, beautiful, and unique, ignoring the reality and seriousness of these illnesses.
“Romanticizing something that’s very real and a struggle for a lot of people is doing society a disservice. Severe depression and anxiety are absolutely debilitating. This downplays the severity of these mental illnesses and the struggles people have to face every day,” Hansen says.
Education and awareness are essential to break the harmful stigmas and stereotypes associated with mental illness.
“We need to educate people on different types of mental illness—not just the more common ones. We need to stop demonizing mental illness in the media. We need to reflect on how our behaviors and actions toward mental illness affects others,” Emma says. “People with mental illness are people, not monsters. They are not dangerous; they are struggling. We need to be treated with respect.”
