Pill Shaming: What exactly is it?

by | Mar 1, 2019 | Articles, Taboo & Breaking It

Modern medicine has come a long way in the management of things like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Mental health is no exception, and a variety of effective treatment options exist today for just about any given condition. Finding a drug that works is only half the battle, though. Patients have to take the drug in order for it to help them, and it’s here that mental health faces an obstacle that’s practically unique to the field.


Pill shaming refers to prejudice against people who take medication, but the term is used almost exclusively in the mental health community. It’s a type of societal stigma, and can be anything from an individual comment to a meme on social media. For people suffering from things like depression and anxiety, pill shaming and other stigmatization can cause them to stop taking their medication. Across the globe, there are more people with depression than there are with asthma[1,2]. An asthmatic patient wouldn’t be criticized for using their inhaler, so why does society look down on mental health meds?


Organic diseases usually have well-defined treatments. With a quick internet search, anyone can understand the underlying cause of a condition and appreciate how a medication might make it better. The psyche is a little bit more complicated and, even today, we don’t fully understand how it works. Maybe that’s why a lot of people tend to see mental illness as more of a personal issue than a biochemical disorder. Feeling depressed? Just go to the gym, go for a hike, spend some time with friends. Feeling anxious? Take deep breaths, listen to music, do some yoga. If someone chooses prescription medication, it’s often looked at as ’giving up’, unnatural, or simply unnecessary.


The social stigma is only half of it: people often have a negative attitude towards their own prescriptions. Because they affect things like mood, emotion, and behavior, many people view mental health medications as ‘changing who they really are’. They view their mental problems
as an intrinsic part of their personality and, in this sense, they too see their illness as nothing more than a personal problem. To them, medication can seem like an artificial and temporary solution.


A lot of the problem comes from viewing mental and physical illnesses as being inherently different from one another, which is just not the case. The fact is that an almost infinite number of parallels can be drawn between the two, especially in terms of their treatment. For instance, while it’s correct to say that exercise might help someone with depression[3], the same can be
said for someone with heart disease. While it’s true that anti-anxiety meds might change someone’s behavior, the same thing can be said about an antacid that lets someone with heartburn continue to enjoy their favorite foods. There’s no doubt that prescription medication has an impact on people’s lives, both mentally and physically. The important thing is that the
medication is often an absolutely essential part of getting better. Again, mental health is no exception, and there should certainly be no shame in taking something that you need to stay healthy.

While it’s true that psychiatric conditions are complex and treatment often requires a multi- directional approach, medication is frequently a vital component of its success. Countless scientific studies have shown us the benefits of psychotropic drugs. Similarly, many studies have documented the harmful effects of not taking your prescribed medication. People choose
to stop taking their medication for a variety of reasons, and for those with mental health issues, stigmatization remains high on the list[4,5,6]. It’s up to all of us to change that.

~ David Matuszewski

Sources:

  1. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/asthma
  2. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
  3. https://www.cochrane.org/CD004366/DEPRESSN_exercise-for-depression
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344423/
  5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4966500/
  6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3843650/

more related articles

What is the Difference Between Personality Disorders and Mood Disorders?

Mood swings during stressful times are natural, but those living with a mood disorder like bipolar (BP) or personality disorder like borderline (BPD) have extreme, erratic, and sometimes irrational changes in their mental state. A lot of symptoms overlap, but these...

Hope for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Depression is a common and often debilitating mood disorder that affects millions. It is a significant global public health problem, and in the United States, 8.4% of adults and 17% of adolescents had at least one major depressive episode in 2020, with many of these...

Toxic Masculinity: Causing depression in men

“Man up!” “Boys don’t cry!” “Don’t be such a girl!” Sound familiar?  These are just a few of the toxically masculine insults that are proliferating within our current culture and society.  Men experience these types of sentiments daily. What’s worse, is so...

Suicide: The Other Pandemic

For the majority of us, September marks the start of Autumn. A long-awaited season bringing brisk air, warm apple cider, and the beautiful turning of leaves. But we mustn’t forget. It is also a month dedicated to the cause of suicide awareness and prevention, hence,...

How To Support a Loved One Going Through Depression

With over 17 million American adults suffering from major depressive disorder (1), it’s not unlikely that you may know someone who is currently living with this condition. Although professional treatment is invaluable in helping depressed individuals recuperate and...

Is it Depression or ADHD? You Could Have Both

Both Depression and Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are very commonin our population. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2021) shows statistics that theprevalence of the current adult population in the United States with ADHD is 4.4%; for...

Bipolar 1 Vs Bipolar 2, What’s the Difference?

Bipolar disorder is a severe chronic mental illness that affects millions of Americans today. It is a complex disease with various symptoms that can cause a multitude of issues for those that live with it. What makes bipolar disorder even more complicated is the fact...

Why Are Women More Susceptible To Depression?

Extensive research has revealed that one in eight women develop depression at some point in their lives, which is twice the rate of cases compared to men. (1) But why is that? What makes women more vulnerable to this condition? Before explaining the significance of...

Too Close to Home: Filipino Suicide and Depression

Many Asian Americans, especially Filipino Americans, struggle with mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and suicide. In fact, young Filipina women experience greater suicide ideation (45.6%) compared to other minorities (Javier et. al 2018). However, despite...

Antidepressants: How Does It Treat Depression?

A Word on Pill Shaming             There are a number of reasons that prevent people from seeking, and ultimately receiving mental healthcare. Clearly, structural barriers contribute to these cases (i.e. some tangible lack of access to medicine). More subtle but no...

What is the Difference Between Personality Disorders and Mood Disorders?

Mood swings during stressful times are natural, but those living with a mood disorder like bipolar (BP) or personality disorder like borderline (BPD) have extreme, erratic, and sometimes irrational changes in their mental state. A lot of symptoms overlap, but these...

Why is anxiety so paralyzing?

“Why is anxiety so paralyzing?” If there is such a thing as various degrees of literal, I would say there should be a spectrum to define how deeply a life has been interrupted, paused, and frozen still. In my experience, it can be so physically paralyzing you would...

4 Lesser Known (But Effective) Psychotherapies For Anxiety

What if I told you, anxiety was an epidemic. In fact, according to NAMI, “Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern in the United States. Over 40 million adults in the U.S. (19.1%) have an anxiety disorder.” Most people are treated with Cognitive...

3 Powerful Ways To Stop Anxiety Now

Let’s Get Started. Anxiety affects everyone on planet Earth, everywhere from San Jose, California to San Jose, Costa Rica. It’s a part of being alive. It’s part of the human experience. But, it doesn't have to be. At least, not to the extent it plagues most...

How to Cope with Anxiety During Covid-19

We are all living in a critical time right now. Whether we are one of the hundreds of thousands affected with COVID-19, a loved one of someone affected, a health professional at the front lines, or like the majority, at home or working an essential job, doing the most...

How Sleep Deprivation Can Increase Your Anxiety

Anxiety is a pervasive problem that can be difficult to diagnose and treat. People try everything from pharmaceutical remedies to therapy, natural remedies, supplements, meditation, and more. Some find relief from their anxiety, but others continue to struggle, no...

The Psychology of Addiction

  Addiction is described as a condition in which a person engages in the use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences. An addiction can...

Everything Can Be Addictive: Part 1

Blog Title: “Addicted” Means Everything After the death of my older brother who died from overdose to guaifenesin, also known as Mucinex, I was shocked and appalled to see how many people were uneducated as to what an addiction is, including the authorities and...

Rehab, Prison, or Death: Why Rehab Doesn’t Always Work

When you think of rehab, you probably think of those lavish centers advertised on day-time television or the late and great Amy Winehouse’s single Rehab, where she testifies she’ll never go back and there’s nothing she has to gain from sitting in therapy for 10 weeks....

Which is Better? Luxury Sober Living vs Government Funded Homes

Sober living homes are used for people who want to maintain abstinence from alcohol and drugs. It can be difficult to return to a home environment that is not drug and alcohol free. Sober livings create a supportive place for recovering addicts to live during their...

What is the Difference Between Personality Disorders and Mood Disorders?

Mood swings during stressful times are natural, but those living with a mood disorder like bipolar (BP) or personality disorder like borderline (BPD) have extreme, erratic, and sometimes irrational changes in their mental state. A lot of symptoms overlap, but these...

How Does Attention and Imagery Ability Relate to Emotion?

It seems evident that the depth that individuals feel and emotionally respond toward stimuli ebbs and flows. Consider, for example, how a person experiences deep elation and joy when listening to their favorite song yet later experiences a dulled affective response...

Mental Health IS physical Health, Exercise Boosts both!

Mental Health IS health. I’ve always said that, because it’s the truth. We can’t separate the two. Just like physical health IS health, mental health is health. I could actually argue that mental health might be even more so, since every single function in our body...

Mental Health Disparities in the LGBTQI+ Community

Among the many health disparities, a glaring one is the higher rate of mental health disorders in people who identify as part of the LGBTQI+ community. Widespread social and political discrimination have caused disproportionately high rates of poverty, homelessness,...

May- Mental Health Awareness Month Multidimensional Awareness

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Which means that there is a lot of extra focus on mental health, mental illness, and breaking the stigma surrounding these two very important topics. We use that word a lot- “awareness”, but so many people don’t fully understand...

Hope for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Depression is a common and often debilitating mood disorder that affects millions. It is a significant global public health problem, and in the United States, 8.4% of adults and 17% of adolescents had at least one major depressive episode in 2020, with many of these...

Toxic Masculinity: Causing depression in men

“Man up!” “Boys don’t cry!” “Don’t be such a girl!” Sound familiar?  These are just a few of the toxically masculine insults that are proliferating within our current culture and society.  Men experience these types of sentiments daily. What’s worse, is so...

“Self Love” in the East VS west

“Self Love” has become one of the catchiest concepts being thrown around in Western society, a terminology seemingly present now everywhere we look; on billboards, all across our social media feeds, in meditation practices and therapy practices. It is now a popular...

Suicide: The Other Pandemic

For the majority of us, September marks the start of Autumn. A long-awaited season bringing brisk air, warm apple cider, and the beautiful turning of leaves. But we mustn’t forget. It is also a month dedicated to the cause of suicide awareness and prevention, hence,...

Somatization and Asking for Help: How Asian Populations Respond to Psychological Stress

The intricate mechanisms of the body alone, are quite remarkable; but once we add the functionalities of the mind to the mix, the body often succumbs to the mind’s agency in decision- making, be it conscious or sub-conscious. Although quite awesome and intricate to...