Living in the modern world comes with a great deal of stress, pressure and anxiety; Since the breakout of the pandemic, due to which people were deprived of all outdoors means of entertainment, the numbers of people diagnosed with depression arose in a frightening speed. Unfortunately, mental health is a much stigmatized topic in Arab societies to the point where a mentally ill person receives an unbearable amount of aggressive reactions; they treat the victims of mental problems as if they are inferior to them due to the lack of awareness and incorrect representation on the media.
Even though it is a long path to walk through, there are a few solutions which can help to break this stigma, such as raising awareness, empowering people with mental illness, being compassionate and encouraging and normalizing conversations about the topic.
Although mental disorders are very frequent (approximately 1 in 6 people experience a common mental health problem every single week), it is unfortunately still considered abnormal and taboo due to the lack of awareness. In many cases people who suffer mental problems are too afraid to go to a psychiatrist because they are trying to avoid
judgment in general, and the word “crazy” in particular, even thought there is a high chanceof recovery.
Indeed, full recovery is in many cases possible for patients but social judgment is
what makes their condition, and overall experience with the illness, way worse than it actually is.
The social stigma attached to mental health has severe negative effects on those people’s lives and it makes it difficult to recover as they are in most times rejected by their own families and friends.
But who gave individuals the right to define other people as “crazy” or normal” or to say
someone is “weird” or “different” or any other word used to describe another HUMAN who is mentally ill? And why do people judge instead of trying to help?
Simply put, people judgment stems from ignorance or lack of understanding of the topic, in fact, when we know someone with a mental illness, it becomes less scary and more relatable.
Hence, younger generations who are getting more and more aware of the issue, for instance, through school discussions or debate clubs, tend to be more considerate and helpful than older generation who are more affected by tradition, culture, social norms and personal backgrounds, for example, I had a neighbor who suffered from a type of hysteria caused by an emotional shock she had faced upon the death of her son. When she first started yelling randomly at the funeral, blocking her ears and shutting her eyes firmly, unsurprisingly, the first words that rolled out of her 78 year old father who had stumbled inside to see what the commotion is about were: ” has she gone mad?”, I also heard the rest of the family murmuring something about witchcraft being the cause of her condition as they hurried to push her inside towards a different room in shame and fear of such rumors spreading around the neighborhood.
Wrong representation of mental health on the media is another reason behind the rising
aggressive discrimination against the victims, for example, many movies choose to present the story villain as a “psychopath” who enjoys killing people for fun and this is evident in some very popular successful modern films such as the joker (2019). This film was very successful and had many international as well as Arab fans which means it caused a great impact and although it managed to send some positive messages, for example, showing that it is possible for mentally ill people to achieve success, it still portrayed the main character as a violent brutal psychopath who terrorizes the city. Needless to say, this kind of representation may aggravate self-stigma for those affected and cause them to avoid seeking help.
There are many other negative effects caused by judgment and wrong representation. Indeed, along with stigma and treatment procrastination, mental illness victims tend to isolate themselves, lose hope of achieving their goals, become violent, find difficulties at work or at finding a job because they are believed to be incompetent and even dangerous.
Arab societies often stifle any conversation about mental health whereas in order to break the stigma, it must be directly addressed. Conversations and education promote awareness of the matter and that is the first step towards ending the stigma, indeed, sharing clear and corrects information about the disorder, its symptoms and chances of full recovery can make a great deal of difference.
We must also show compassion instead of negative reactions as it can help improve the
victim’s condition; even the smallest act of affection can remind that person that he exists,
that he matters, that he is normal and that he is not inferior.
Another way to fight stigma is empowering those who suffer from an illness instead of
shaming them, for instance, by sharing their success stories on the media or by allowing themto prove themselves competent in their job etc… This can help them re-build their self-esteem and make them, and the society, aware that they are able, just like any other human, of achieving their goals and dreams in life, and that their illness, and people’s opinions should not stand as an obstacle in their way.
These steps, although seemingly easy and small, can make a huge difference and improve the lives of all the people who suffer from any form of discrimination in the Arab world due to being victims of mental illness.
In conclusion, several people are diagnosed with mental illness everyday in the Arab world and most of them choose to keep it a secret and procrastinate treatment in fear of judgment and discrimination from society and sometimes even from family and friends. This sense of self-stigma can only be a result of ignorance of the matter,
which is wide-spread in the Arab society along with the false representation it gets on the
media which requires a quick intervening. Although change does not happen overnight, there are a few actions which can be taken to raise awareness over the issue and begin the journey towards a stigma-free society.
Eya Brik
Eya Brik is a third year student majoring in English Literature and Civilization at the
Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities- University of Manouba.
Eya Brik is a member of the Content Writing team of the MENNA Initiative.
She has a passion for reading literature and writing short stories. Eya was a member
of a group which volunteered to help the people in need in her hometown by throwing
fund-raising art performances which she really enjoyed.