(picture from thinkstock)
Have you thought about how seeing an image can change the way you feel about something? Maybe you hate a certain fast food chain but they post a new sandwich that looks amazing and it changes your mind. Pictures are powerful.
Some of the pictures people post online about mental illness can make it seem like only people who always look like life is terrible have mental illness. That is a form of stigma – and it separates us from each other. It can make our kids feel like they are different from everyone else. The truth is people with mental illness are all around us and they look like anyone – smiling or not smiling – and usually they are not clutching their head.
Recently there was a great article on Buzzfeed talking about the Time to Change Get the Picture campaign. This campaign is trying to educate media to not use stigmatizing pictures of people clutching their head when they are writing about mental illness. Check out the video below to see why they are doing what they do:
Do you feel like you’ve seen negative pictures about people with mental illness in the media? How did it make you or your child feel? Share with us below!
(feature image from thinkstock)