Instead of compassion and support, many people with mental illnesses are greeted by unsympathetic, unfair, or hostile responses. This intolerance is due to the stigma that accompanies mental illness. Society often perceives people with mental illnesses as strange, scary, or even dangerous. The media is responsible for much of the misconceptions regarding people with mental illnesses. Television and newspapers stress a history of mental illness in the backgrounds of people who commit violent crimes.
Comedians use the disabilities of people with mental illnesses as a source of humor.
Advertisements use stigmatizing images as promotional gimmicks in order to sell products. Movies use mental illnesses to sensationalize plots. The most common, and often the most hurtful, form of abuse of the mentally ill is people s perception and the things they say. Most people think they are being helpful, but their words are hurtful nonetheless. Thoughtless sayings can wound, fester, and scar the minds of people with mental illnesses.