Several students wrote about
their own personal experiences
of having a family member with
mental illness. One student described
how her past experience
played a major role in her perception
of mental illness: “I was really
uneasy going in at first just because
it wasn’t really talked about freely.
Even my own family has different
opinions about how you deal
with it.” As she talked about her
sister’s struggle with depression,
she indicated that her mother and
father had different views about
using medications to treat depression.
She went on to say, “I think
society places a stigma on mental
illness and this makes you afraid
of [people with mental illness].”