Pill Shaming: Lets Talk About It

by | Sep 12, 2018 | Articles, Taboo & Breaking It

There are millions of people who suffer from mental health disorders all across the world. A lot of people need to take medication on a daily basis to stay afloat. Suffering from a mental illness is difficult enough, so why is there shame that surrounds taking medication for these mental illnesses? We don’t shame people for taking high blood pressure medicine, so why do we shame people for taking medication for mental health disorders?

There exists a stigma that surrounds mental illness. A lot of people believe that it’s an easy fix. Go outside, get fresh air, meditate, exercise. While these methods help ease some symptoms of mental illness, it may not be strong enough for everyone to handle their mental illness. Such simple, holistic methods may have a lot of great benefits for one’s mental health but it does not replace the fact that millions of people need medication.

Around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide. However, nearly two-thirds of people with a mental illness don’t seek help because of the stigma and discrimination that surrounds it.

Unfortunately a lot of times people view seeking help and going on medication as a failure. Pill shaming can be toxic, and it discourages people from seeking the help they need and deserve. Just because a mental illness isn’t something you can directly see when looking at someone doesn’t mean that it’s not there and that it’s less important than one’s physical health. Just like with any other disease, there shouldn’t be any shame in accepting help and medication if needed.

Taking medication for mental illness is often portrayed as negative in TV shows and movies, so people often think taking a certain pill will make them a zombie with no feelings. It also encourages the stigma that already surrounds pill shaming.

In reality, dosages can be adjusted, pills work differently for everyone, therapy works differently for everyone and one person’s experience isn’t going to mean yours will be the same way.

Has pill shaming or the stigma that surrounds it stopped you from seeking help before? How do you feel about pill shaming? Let us know below your thoughts!

Katherine Waldron

more related articles

Inside the Cuckoo’s Nest: My Time in a Psych Ward

My only knowledge of psych wards growing up was from movies. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Girl Interrupted, etc. I never knew anyone who had personally been admitted, or at least no one honest about it. My high school in Hartford, CT was...

The Effects of Schizophrenia and Depression on Everyday Life

Schizophrenia is a life-long mental health condition that affects the way someone perceives reality, and can include various symptoms including experiencing delusions and or experiencing hallucinations. Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects...

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 to Practice Self-Care if You Have PCOS

It's all too easy to feel alone and helpless when living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition, which affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age, disrupts your hormone and metabolism systems, and the symptoms include increasing your amount of body hair,...

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...

What AI Can Bring to Suicide Prevention

Our society has become enthralled with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is becoming an intrinsicphrase in our zeitgeist. In the coming years, AI will embed itself into various professional fields. Although legal and policy measures may temper its impact, it is...

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...

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...

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...

Inside the Cuckoo’s Nest: My Time in a Psych Ward

My only knowledge of psych wards growing up was from movies. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Girl Interrupted, etc. I never knew anyone who had personally been admitted, or at least no one honest about it. My high school in Hartford, CT was...

The Effects of Schizophrenia and Depression on Everyday Life

Schizophrenia is a life-long mental health condition that affects the way someone perceives reality, and can include various symptoms including experiencing delusions and or experiencing hallucinations. Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects...

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 to Practice Self-Care if You Have PCOS

It's all too easy to feel alone and helpless when living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition, which affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age, disrupts your hormone and metabolism systems, and the symptoms include increasing your amount of body hair,...

The loss of someone you don’t know: How Matthew Perry’s death affected me

I was in elementary school when I first watched an episode of Friends. I was immediately drawn to the character of Chandler. We were both awkward. We were both funny. We both had problems. He was one of my first TV crushes after Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. I became...

The Effects of Schizophrenia and Depression on Everyday Life

Schizophrenia is a life-long mental health condition that affects the way someone perceives reality, and can include various symptoms including experiencing delusions and or experiencing hallucinations. Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects...

Mental Health In the Work Place

Before diving in, I’d like to explain my word choice. Instead of “Mental Illness,” I will refer to it as “Mental Health Challenges.” I don’t like to use terms like “illness,” “issues”, or “problems.” The reason being is, unlike physical ailments, mental health plays a...

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...

A Psychotic Mind: My History of Schizophrenia, Self-Harm, and Suicide Attempts

*Trigger warning: Self-harm and suicide attempts As a child, I remember being happy, I remember feeling safe, but after my parent's divorce, I remember feeling so much anguish and pain. For me, self-injury was activated by my parent’s divorce. I was 11 years old when...

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...

23 Years of Bipolar 1 and I’m Still Dancing

No. I wasn’t always OK with being bipolar. What’s more, the shame of living with such a disease, propelled to do ridiculous actions that your mania compels you to do, the guilt of feeling depressed when that logical side of your tore-up brain knows there is so much...