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It is interesting to look at society’s perception of mental illness in conjunction with our perception of “medical” illness. Society stigmatizes certain medical illnesses such as STD’s mainly because of the generalizations it has made on the means for contraction of these diseases. We know that most mental illnesses are organic and do not stem from a person’s violation of societal norms and yet, people with mental illness are still looked down upon. For the most part, those with medical illnesses are not stigmatized as a person cannot be responsible for consciously eradicating the disease plaguing their body without medical assistance. However, we tend to believe that a person with a mental illness is capable of curing himself or herself. Up until recently, I did not believe in therapy (although I supported its existence as it seemed to benefit many people) since I did not understand how paying someone to sit and talk would solve any problems. Even if talking with someone was a positive experience, I still felt that ultimately, it was the individual’s responsibility to act on what had been discussed. The pharmaceutical treatment provided to certain individuals with mental illness also worried me as this medicine was designed to alter someone’s mood and personality, a feature which I thought should be self regulated. While I commended people for getting help, I felt that relying on a therapist or prescriptions was a sign of weakness. If we are to try and eradicate mental illness stigmatization, I think we need to first focus on changing peoples’ perception of the treatment options used to combat mental illness. Perhaps in addition to a doctor’s physical, everyone should be required to see a therapist before entering school and getting a job.