Words carry all kinds of meanings and any number of connotations. Words grow attached to images and easily become stereotypes. In today’s fast-paced society, one word has become so dirty it is rarely heard above a whisper: disorder.
Having been paired with psychological illnesses like anxiety and depression, it is more often than not met with a careful stare and hushed voices.
This negative stigma associated with mental illness often overpowers the efforts to increase awareness. Serious, life-threatening illnesses are often ignored or missed by friends and family members.
Though UNC has increased its efforts to combat mental health awareness, the University and community should direct additional funds and support to increase mental health awareness and acceptance. UNC should look to promote an open and supportive environment to break the negative stigma associated with mental health issues.
Like other universities, UNC has experienced recent student and faculty suicides. The national average for considering suicide and attempting suicide for all college students stands at 3.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
UNC Counseling and Wellness Services found that 4.8 percent of surveyed students — about one in 20 — had seriously considered suicide within the last 12 months.
And 1.2 percent of the freshmen respondents said they had attempted suicide within the same period. These increased numbers reflect the wide range and varying severity of mental illness.
UNC’s entire community has been affected by the recent mental illness-related deaths of an athletic coach, a graduate student and a law student.
Unlike physical diseases, mental illnesses are harder to diagnose and measure. Possible signs include a sudden change in performance in school, isolating efforts, violent or abusive mood swings, eating and sleep disorders. These symptoms can appear in response to biological changes during young adulthood, environmental stress and even social media platforms that can cause “Facebook depression.” Many of these factors are undetectable to parents and therefore friends and classmates need to overpower the stigma and look out for each other.
