The prejudice and discrimination is rooted in a lack of education and understanding. Take 30 seconds. Mental illness conjures up images of padded rooms, restraints, wailing, screaming and destructive behavior. We lump all the people who experience mental illness together as nuts, crazies, whackos and lunatics. You will hear countless derogatory references in normal conversation, comic monologues and on the news.
Negative perception is woven into the fabric of our society.
That doesn't make it right. I am macho, the master of my house, the hunter-gatherer and superhero. Beyond the gender issue, I am a husband, a father, a son. In another vein, we place an absolute premium on being in the right place with the right people and at the right affair. More than 50 percent of the people who are treated for mental illness today pay for the treatment by themselves.