The Power of Labels: Mental health stigma challenged by students

In today’s society, discussions about mental illnesses and cognitive disabilities can cause people to feel uncomfortable. Mental illnesses are defined as a change in an individual’s thought processes and perceptions, but they do not directly affect cognitive abilities. On the other hand, cognitive disabilities directly impact the ability of a person to comprehend particular thoughts. Words such as “retarded” are sometimes used to describe people with cognitive disabilities and words such as “crazy” have been incorrectly used to refer to mental illnesses. These terms can be offensive to many people and may be considered politically incorrect. Political incorrectness is used to describe language, policies or measures which lack consideration for a certain group of people.
Peninsula has many students who suffer from a cognitive disability or mental illness, yet many schools do not teach mental health past middle school, since the subject is seen as very personal. However, during Mental Health Awareness Week, students hung posters used to demonstrate information on health issues. The prejudice against people who have mental illnesses and cognitive disabilities stem from basic human nature. People are conditioned in a way so they regard others around them as normal or abnormal based on how they appear and act.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recent estimates in the United States show that about 15 percent of children aged 3 through 17 years have one or more cognitive disabilities. These conditions begin during the growing period, impact daily living and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.
Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Anne Leonard says that a mental illness is unlike a disease since the illness can usually be controlled by medication and does not usually affect the senses. A mental illness does not always develop as a cause of one accident. Genetics, environment, lifestyle and stress contribute to whether or not someone develops a mental illness.
The National Alliance on Mental Illnesses states that 50 percent of mental illnesses start to take hold at the age of 14, roughly the average age of a high school freshman. Actions that may be considered normal behavioral changes in adolescents can cover up usual symptoms of a mental illness. By age 24, 75 percent of these illnesses begin to develop fully.
Freshman Isabella Sarullo believes that misinformed labels of mental illnesses can have negative effects.
“People who have mental illnesses are still human beings and they do not deserve to be labeled intentionally,” Sarullo said. “We need to raise more awareness to address the problem ourselves.”
References to mentally ill and cognitively disabled people are considered a delicate subject and can cause problems if used wrongly.
“I think high schoolers can understand that [these] words [can be] offensive, [but] they may not know someone who has suffered [from a mental illness or cognitive disability],” Leonard said. “[So], they may not understand the challenges that go with dealing with [these].”