Mental health issues are prevalent to 23% of the population in the United States. Mental health awareness is extremely important to me as I am surrounded by people every day who suffer, as well as suffer myself. As long as I've been alive, I have known and been aware of how mental illness affects and profiles people. Growing up in a Hispanic family has made it hard for me to express my ideas about mental health because it is so looked down upon; talking about or showing signs of mental illness makes you seem weak. It was seen as a hoax to make victimization easier, or to have an excuse for being lazy. Today, my family is a lot more flexible and open-minded about mental health as the years go by. More recently, my father was diagnosed with OCD, and has finally gotten the help he's needed for so many years. But this wasn't my first example of mental ailment. My mother's cousin Dan is a diagnosed Schizophrenic. During his childhood, he was exposed to domestic violence, which then pushed him towards substance abuse as a teenager. Though for many years, I didn't understand, I soon found out what was wrong with him. Having been exposed to an actual person who has Schizophrenia, it was very odd to see how the media displays people with this illness. Many Hollywood movies demonized these people as evil, having crazy or murderous tendencies. Dan is a really nice guy. He cares about his family, and is a really interesting person to talk to. The most odd things he’s done are wear bright yellow contacts and have a consistent delusion about being an MMA fighter. As a kid, I remember seeing him go outside and talk. Then, I had thought he was speaking on the phone, but he was apparently just speaking to himself. The only danger he exhibited was sizing himself up in a mirror before a “boxing match.” This school year, my senior year, I decided to take AP psychology. I went into this class with the first intent of learning more about mental illness. I wanted to find more information to overcome my own stigmas and beliefs about mental health. I think we’re all involuntarily ignorant, so learning more about this topic would help me bring more awareness to both myself and my family. I believe that stereotypes around certain disorders could be just as damaging as the disorders themselves. Depression is an excuse for laziness. If you’re anxious, snap out of it. People with ADHD are just rowdy. PTSD is all in your head. All people with personality disorders are evil. Schizophrenics are violent. These are all extremely damaging myths about mental illnesses and can make others villainize neurodivergent individuals, as well as make these people afraid to seek help, or even give them internalized hatred for themselves or others just like them. When I go to college, I aim to minor in psychology. As I can’t make much of a difference at this moment, I always teach others about what I’ve learned in class to clear the air around topics that may seem too sensitive or complex to talk about. I try to raise awareness without watering down the total complexity of each illness, as each individual’s health is different from another.