5 Stigma that people with mental illness in Indonesia is experienced and 3 ways to deal with the stigma.
In every country, there is always a stigma that comes
when they know people who have mental illness. In Indonesia, there is also a
stigma that grows within the society that often makes people with mental
illness afraid to speak up or even get treated.
First of all, we need to understand the
definition of stigma?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, stigma is a
strong feeling of disapproval that most people in society have about something,
especially when this is unfair.
Next, we have to know about the current situation
people feel towards mentally ill patients.
In Indonesia, especially in East Java, there is a
method called Pasung which a journal defined as the practice of confining and
restraining the mentally ill. Not only that but many people think that the
mentally ill are outcasts from society because of things such as the
stigmas that are listed in this list.
Okay, let’s get through the points!
# 1 Mentally ill patients are dangerous.
Many think that mentally ill patients especially
those who look like they have severe mental illness can cause criminal acts.
Many people in Indonesia think that mentally ill patients can cause them harm,
so they decided to stay away from mentally ill patients.
# 2 Depression is just a sad emotion.
Many people believe that the mentally ill patient with
depression is just feeling sad and they need to snap back to reality. What many
people see in Indonesia about depression is just the tip of it there are many
hidden emotions that the mentally ill patients feel inside such as loss of
focus, uncontrollable emotions, and feeling down all the time. Mentally ill
depression patients also experience other symptoms such as hearing voices,
seeing shadows, or even being afraid of such things.
# 3 The mentally ill patients have to be outcasted.
This kind of stigma in Indonesia makes mentally ill
patients don’t want to seek help or medical advice. Because the patients
think that they are outcasts that society hates and they need to carry these kinds of burdens themselves even without their families knowing. Many people in
Indonesia especially in the rural areas are keeping their mental illness to
themselves because they don’t want to be outcasted by society.
# 4 You’re like this because you havemindmind.
This stigma generalizes mental mentally ill
patputstthe puts the blame on the themselveselves. The fact is mental illness
is caused by many factors sometimes a builfactor suchr such as trauma and
bullying that the patients experienced when they were young. It doesn’t mean
that mentall ill patients have weak mental there are many cases in that
people with mental illness can succeed.
# 5 People with mental illness are incompetent.
Because of their mental illness, the mentally ill
patients are doubted as incompetent so they can’t succeed and have to rely on
their families for the rest of their lives. It’s a wrong stigma and many people
proved that they could succeed even if they have mental illness people such as
Abraham Lincoln, and many mental illness influencers such as Cecilla McGough.
Being mentally ill won’t stop you.
Then comes the next question how to deal with the
stigma here are three ways to deal with the stigma.
# 1 Join a
community
There are a lot of mental illness communities in
Indonesia such as KPSI (Komunitas Peduli Skizofrenia Indonesia), Get Happy,
Deppresion Wariors Indonesia, and Biopolar Care Indonesia. When you join a community,
you will feel like you’re not alone and accepted. It's important to feel
accepted and that you’re not alone because it makes you think that myouny people with truggle with mental illness the groups will also support you
through the journey of recovering from mental illness.
# 2 Seek medical treatmedecide to you decide to seek medical treatment and eventually get the medicines that can reduce the mental illness symptoms you will eventuallpsychiatrist. The psychiatrist will also give you advice on how to do daily things and solutions to your problem. It's okay to seek help because that is the first step in mental illness recovery.
# 3 Don’t take it personally.
You may have experwhoed people that discriminate against you.
As time goes by you will stop listening to them because you’re sick of their discrimination
or the words they use towards you. Just be cool and ssayy said, “Well, it’s
your problem then not mine.”
In conclusion, being mentally ill in Indonesia with
the stigmas is hard admit it! But remember that you can’t control what they say
or do but what you can control is your reaction you can just decide not to listen
to them and thrive with your life.
Written by a girl with paranoid schizophrenia who
really loves her country and society with her passion for writing.
Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stigma
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6217178/
https://riliv.co/rilivstory/temukan-teman-seperjuangan-kamu-di-7-komunitas-kesehatan-mental-ini/
https://rs-soewandhi.surabaya.go.id/mitos-kesalahpahaman-dan-fakta-mengenai-gangguan-jiwa/
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