Mental Illness Interview

Mental illness is not a new concept; however, not many people are comfortable discussing mental illness. This discomfort may stem from the stigma following mental illness of the response to keep it private from the public. When first approaching each interviewee about their perception of mental illness, he/she seem uncertain to say yes because of the fear of offending someone or saying something wrong. At points during the interview, it was clear people were not comfortable discussing certain questions; however, everyone seemed to answer to the best of their knowledge with honesty. Interviewee One was a male Austin College student majoring in Business Admin, Interviewee Two was a male early twenties, and Interviewee Three was a female in her

Interviewee One would not date someone who has schizophrenia but would date someone with bipolar. It was interesting to view Interviewee One spectrum of mental illness with schizophrenia being extreme and bipolar being on the low end. Interviewee Two agreed mostly with Interviewee One’s answer but included he would try to help as long as he saw the person trying, if not, he would stop and walk away. Interviewee Three said if the disorder was not as severe, such as OCD then she would, but if the disorder were extreme then it would cause her not to. I agreed with most of the answers given, it depends on the illness and severity, however, it would also depend on the person whether he/she has coping strategies or is on medication would affect my decision of dating a person with mental illness. It was interesting the disorders people mentioned, such as OCD and bipolar, however, no one mentioned anxiety or depression. I think it showed that as a culture we assume what is a mental illness and what is

According to Interviewee One, media affects mental health by making it worse or it triggers people into having episodes such as people constantly checking Facebook, which turns into an obsession. Gave an example of ghost vibrations when people are involved with his/her phone then he/she starts to feel vibrations on the phone when he/she have not received a notification. Interviewee Two said social media affects mental health by making it worse because social media puts everyone in a category. Therefore, people with mental illness might feel targeted or a shame because he/she does not fit into the categories social media has, such as being an