Why I Joined the Cause at Hand by Jenna Wilson

I’ve been labeled by my society as mentally ill. When I was first labeled this way, I knew what it meant. I would undoubtedly be forgotten in the annals of history. I would fail to be stamped with a label of being a successful human. My cancellation prize: take medication for the rest of my life and stick to my corner.

I was living a life of great potential at the time: studying theoretical mathematics at UCLA and spending much of my time engaged in the craft of writing. But, I decisively gave up on my dream of becoming a math professor and published author. I stopped going to class and studying which allowed me to forget the matter at hand.

Society had taken me out of normal and placed me into abnormal or, even worse, illness. The way I perceived it, I had a pathology that nobody wanted.

My purpose was stripped from me, and I dropped out of UCLA with six classes to go before I had my degree. I had allowed myself to be eaten alive.

Internalized stigma is the biggest downfall of being labeled as mentally ill. I've experienced the hopelessness that this label warrants. As a result of society’s ever pressing stigma that correlates with this label, I had convinced myself that I had little to no value in serving my community, that it would be in my best interest to sit back and live a life of very-low stress, not work, receive government benefits, and stay out of the main stream conversation.

Campaigns for the mentally ill are counter-productive. For one, referring to an entire group of people as the mentally ill is like saying, the athletes, the anxious, the diabetics, or the coffee drinkers.

These statements would sound ridiculous if society went around saying this in the media, in public policy, and in everyday conversations. People respect the individual differences in each person that may perhaps drink coffee, have anxiety, practice a sport, or have diabetes. 

The second reason this is counterproductive is that those who experience a label of mental illness is a person first and foremost. Experiencing a mental condition is only a small part of who they are.  Experiencing the label has grown into a cancerous tumor that eats away at an entire group of individuals. It’s unfair to be considered part of the mentally ill, instead of anything except who we are individually.

The language of mental illness was first created for medical terminology and communication between psychiatrists, social workers, and psychologists. But mainstream society took it upon themselves to create a stereotype of this label.  

I don’t want it to become an everyday thing to have a mental illness, although it’s nothing to be ashamed of and something everyone should just accept as part of life. I want to be accepted for being me. I want to be judged by my good nature, my humorous sensibility, or my inquisitive mind.

I have joined the organization of Changing the Name in order to be a part of the conversation. Although the American Psychological Association (APA) will have to officially change the name to something more descriptive of what is going – a brain dysfunction - it is my goal to bring the importance of language and use of labels into the discussion. 

Jenna Wilson - Director of Publications