Of Mice And Men Mental Illnesses Essay

“At the root of this dilemma is the way we view mental health in countries. Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg or your brain, it’s still an illness, and there should be no distinction,” stated the First Lady, Michelle Obama, when she was asked about how mental illness should be recognized by countries around the world. Mental illnesses are a relatively new discovery, and people have debated the rights of disabled people, how they should be treated, and what scientific help can be given to them. During the 1930’s research on mental illnesses was just being introduced, so many experiments were done on people that could be considered inhumane. People with mental illnesses should not be treated differently than others, and recent discoveries

“The findings stand in contrast to the study's other conclusions that the public has a growing understanding that genetic and stress-related factors can cause mental illness,” (Mental-Illness Fears). In of Mice and Men Lennie has a mental illness; therefore he usually reacts on instinct without thinking the situation through. If someone acts hostile to him or someone he cares about he automatically tries to protect others, and the only way he knows how to protect people is through physically hurting them. However, this is not his fault because he was never taught otherwise, and is only acting on human instinct not on how he feels. “She said other studies have shown that the mass media tends to characterize people with mental illnesses as violent or evil,’’ (Mental-Illness Fears). Lennie is thought of as an aggressive person because of his large size, and how he accidentally kills animals by petting them too hard. When he killed Curly’s wife that was due to him being confused by her reaction to his