At one point in our history, those who suffered from mental disorders were thrown in institutions. Not just any institutions, but poorly kept, inhumane, run down institutions. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the “treatment” that was given was more like torture than anything else. Electroshock? Might as well be an electric chair.

While we’ve certainly come a long way from the primitive times of insulin-coma therapy (I think the name speaks for itself) the reputation surrounding mental disorders has remained rather similar. All people with mental disorders are crazy right? Wrong.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year. Take a moment and think of how many people that affects.

It could be someone sitting next to you, minding their own business. It could be someone you walk past in the hallway as you go about your daily routine. It could be your best friend, your brother or your sister. Basically, it could be ANYONE.

Mental disorder diagnoses aren’t just black and white. It’s not as simple as just depression and anxiety. There are many sub-categories in each disorder. For example, Anxiety can be broken down numerous times. Generalized Anxiety Disorser (GAD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Social Anxiety, Specific Phobias and  Panic disorder are all considered part of the Anxiey family. As far as depression goes, Major Depressive Disorder, Chronic Depression, Atypical Depression, Mania, Bipolar Disorder and Psychotic Depression are all intertwined with eachother. All of this disorders share similarities but have distinct differences.  They vary based on the afflicted individual: what they’ve experienced, heredity, genetics, gender, age and the list goes on and on.

With so many people in the world plagued by mental illnesses, why is there still such a misunderstood view lingering with them?

Our society shows two completely polar opposite views on them as of today. The most common being ignorance. Society spends more time trying to ignore and minimize mental disorders than actually attempting to understand them, let alone improve them.

As if handling a mental disorder wasn’t difficult enough, with such a frowned upon reputation,  people with mental illness are robbed of the privileges that define one’s life.

On one hand, they struggle to cope  with the symptoms and obstacles that result from their illness. On the other, they are unfairly challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that stems  from misconceptions about mental illness

The second reaction to mental illnesses is glorification. While this sounds strange, it’s true. Social media has played a huge part in popularizing mental illnesses. Not so much having them, but being labeled with them. Sites like Instagram and especially Tumblr have turned these disorders into a kind of fad. It’s rare to log on to Tumblr and not see a twig-legged girl or depressing quote written on some picture with absolutely no relevance. The best part? Over 100,000 reblogs on most of them.

Most of these websites have made an effort to prevent these images from being popularized by banning the use of related hashtags. Tumblr, for instance, has prohibited the use of the tags self harm, ana (for anorexia) and depression.

Though these restrictions have been put in place, little difference has been made from it. These pictures still remain circulating the web for everyone to see, and the reblog counts  keep getting higher.

Mental disorders are not a fad. They aren’t meant to be glamorized or looked upon as a character flaw. We need to acknowledge as a society that people don’t choose to have them; most people would do anything to get rid of them. Mental disorder or not, a person is a person. Everyone deserves equal treatment.