I believe there is so much stigma associated with mental illness due to people’s unwillingness to pay attention to the issues that plague an individual’s mental health. In our culture, generally people are told to “stay positive” when they go to another member of society to seek out validation. What the people are looking for usually is somebody to listen to them and validate their feelings. What the person usually gets when seeking out a person that will listen to them is judgement, invalidation, and unsolicited advice, or somebody who engages in these activities due to their unwillingness to hear the victim of mental illness out completely. As a result, society has put an unrealistic label on those who are experiencing mental illness as weak and not strong enough. People fear seeking out professional help as a response to not wanting to be seen as weak by their peers, even in instances where their peers may care deeply for the person experiencing mental illness. The factors that contribute to self stigma is the adherence of beliefs similar to that of “being seen as weak for seeking out professional help”. As a result of the adherence of those beliefs, the person experiencing mental illness represses their emotions in the context of their situation, as opposed to talking about it and handling it in a healthy manner. The person may find an unhealthy coping mechanism in the excessive consumption of alcohol, other drugs, or in behaviors involving self harm, such as cutting themselves.

Culture can cause a person to respond in various ways to the development of a mental illness. For example, the textbook mentioned that Arab men as a culture generally will not seek help for mental illness until they begin to experience somatic effects of that illness, staying quiet until those effects manifest themselves. Religiousness and spirituality may intertwine with a person’s conceptualization of wellness and illness in the sense that some religious behaviors could be interpreted as a mental health concern if not tied to that religious practice. For example, some religions may speak in tongues. To someone who is uneducated about the practice, it may appear that the person is talking to themselves, as well as speaking “gibberish”. That behavior, if not practiced in the context of the patients religion, may be of concern for the patients mental health and wellbeing.