essay on overcoming health problems

Essay on Overcoming Health Problems

Students are often asked to write an essay on Overcoming Health Problems in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Overcoming Health Problems

Understanding health issues.

When we get sick, our body is telling us something is wrong. Like a cold makes us sneeze, or a cut turns red and hurts. To get better, we need to know what’s making us feel bad.

Eating Right and Exercising

To fight sickness, eating healthy food like fruits and vegetables helps. Also, moving around and playing keeps our bodies strong. This makes it easier to stay healthy or get better when we’re sick.

Going to the Doctor

Sometimes, we need a doctor’s help to overcome health problems. They can give us medicine or advice on what to do to feel better.

Rest and Relaxation

When we’re not feeling well, resting is important. Sleep helps our body heal and gives us energy to fight off sickness.

Staying Positive

Being happy and thinking positive thoughts can make us feel better. When we’re sick, it’s good to do things we enjoy to help our mood and health.

250 Words Essay on Overcoming Health Problems

When we talk about health problems, we mean any sickness or condition that makes your body feel bad or work wrong. Imagine your body like a well-oiled machine. When something is not right, it doesn’t work as smoothly. This could be a cold, a broken bone, or something that lasts longer like asthma or diabetes.

Steps to Get Better

To fix these health problems, the first step is to see a doctor. They are like detectives for your body. They check you, ask questions, and sometimes give you tests to find out what’s wrong. After they know the problem, they can tell you how to fix it. This might be medicine, rest, or changes in what you eat or how you move.

Eating Right and Staying Active

Food is fuel for our bodies. Eating healthy things like fruits, vegetables, and grains helps our bodies fight off sickness. Being active also keeps our bodies strong. Think of it like a superhero training to keep the city safe. The better the training, the stronger the hero.

Sleep is just as important. It’s like giving your body a time-out to fix itself. When you’re not feeling well, sleeping more can help you heal faster.

Lastly, keep your spirits up. When you’re happy and positive, your body feels it too. It’s like cheering on your favorite team; when they hear you, they do better.

Remember, overcoming health problems is a team effort between you, your family, and your doctor. With the right care, you can get back to being your best self.

500 Words Essay on Overcoming Health Problems

Understanding health problems.

When we talk about health problems, we mean any sickness or condition that makes a person feel unwell. This can be a cold, a broken bone, or something long-term like asthma or diabetes. Health problems can make it hard for someone to do everyday things like going to school, playing with friends, or even eating and sleeping.

One big step in fighting health problems is eating good foods and moving your body. Imagine your body is like a car. Just like a car needs the right fuel to run well, your body needs healthy foods to work properly. Fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy products are like super fuels for your body. They give you the energy to play and help you grow strong.

Moving your body is just as important. When you run, jump, or play sports, you help your heart get stronger and your muscles grow. Being active also helps to keep away sickness by making your body’s defense system, called the immune system, work better.

Visiting the doctor can be scary, but it’s an important part of staying healthy. Doctors are like detectives for your health. They can find out what’s wrong when you’re sick and give you medicine or advice to help you get better. Remember, doctors have learned a lot about how to help people, so they know the best ways to fix health problems.

Getting enough sleep is like giving your body a mini vacation every day. When you sleep, your body fixes itself and gets ready for the next day. If you don’t sleep enough, your body won’t have the energy to fight off sickness or heal.

It’s not just about sleep, though. Taking time to relax, like reading a book or drawing, is good for your mind. When your mind is calm, your body feels better too.

Asking for Help

Sometimes, health problems can be too much to handle alone. It’s okay to ask for help from parents, teachers, or friends. They can give you support or help you find someone who can. Talking about your health problems can make them seem less scary and more manageable.

When you’re dealing with health problems, it’s easy to feel sad or upset. But trying to stay positive can make a big difference. When you think good thoughts, your body actually feels better. Laughing and smiling with friends or watching a funny movie can lift your spirits and help your body heal.

Overcoming health problems isn’t always easy, but with the right food, enough exercise, visits to the doctor, rest, help from others, and a positive attitude, it’s definitely possible. Remember, each step you take to stay healthy helps you to be your best at school and at play. So take care of your body, and it will take care of you!

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Overcoming Fear
• Essay on Overcoming Fear Of Public Speaking
• Essay on Over Reliance On Technology

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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The emotional effects of a serious illness or injury

Facing a serious diagnosis, coping with a serious illness tip 1: reach out for support, tip 2: explore your emotions, tip 3: manage stress, tip 4: pursue activities that bring you meaning and joy, tip 5: deal with anxiety and depression, how to help someone cope with a serious illness, coping with a life-threatening illness or serious health event.

A diagnosis of cancer, heart disease, or other serious illness can be devastating. But there are ways to cope with the emotional distress and preserve your quality of life.

A serious health problem can disrupt all aspects of your life, whether it’s a chronic or life-threatening illness, such as cancer, or a major health event such as a stroke, heart attack, or debilitating injury.

Many serious health problems seem to develop unexpectedly, upsetting your life out of the blue. You may feel overwhelmed by waves of difficult emotions—from fear and worry to profound sadness, despair, and grief—or just numb, frozen by shock or the feeling that you’ll never be able to cope. The emotional upheaval can make it difficult to function or think straight, and even lead to mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.

But whatever your diagnosis or emotional response, it’s important to know that you’re not powerless. There are steps you can take to better cope with your new situation, ease the stress and mental anguish that often accompany serious illness, and find a way to navigate this challenging new journey.

Common emotional responses to serious illness include:

• Anger or frustration as you struggle to come to terms with your diagnosis—repeatedly asking, “Why me?” or trying to understand if you’ve done something to deserve this.
• Facing up to your own mortality and the prospect that the illness could potentially be life-ending.
• Worrying about the future—how you’ll cope, how you’ll pay for treatment, what will happen to your loved ones, the pain you may face as the illness progresses, or how your life may change.
• Grieving the loss of your health and old life.
• Feeling powerless, hopeless, or unable to look beyond the worst-case scenario.
• Regret or guilt about things you’ve done that you think may have contributed to your illness or injury. Shame at how your condition is affecting those around you.
• Denial that anything is wrong or refusing to accept the diagnosis.
• A sense of isolation, feeling cut off from friends and loved ones who can’t understand what you’re going through.
• A loss of self. You’re no longer you but rather your medical condition.

How you react emotionally and the degree of psychological distress you experience depends on many different factors, including your age, personality, the type and prognosis of the medical problem you’re facing, and the amount of support you have.

Whatever your situation, you should know that experiencing a wide range of difficult emotions is a normal response to a potentially life-changing situation. It doesn’t mean that you’re weak, going crazy, or won’t be able to meet the health and emotional challenges that lie ahead.

Speak to a Licensed Therapist

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Everything changes when you learn that you have a life-threatening illness. Perhaps you cried, sought out the comfort of loved ones, or did your best to distract yourself or pretend like nothing had changed. Or maybe you simply froze, unable to process how your life had suddenly changed out of all recognition. Or perhaps you even jumped into action and started tackling your health problem head on.

It’s important to remember there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to respond. We’re all different, so don’t tell yourself what you should be thinking, feeling, or doing after a diagnosis or serious health event. Give yourself time to process the news and be kind to yourself as you adjust to your new situation. 

Allow yourself to feel. It may seem better in the moment to avoid experiencing your emotions, but they exist whether you’re paying attention to them or not. Trying to ignore your feelings will only increase stress and maybe even delay recovery. But if you allow yourself to feel what you feel, you’ll find that even intense, disturbing feelings will pass, the initial distress you felt at news of your diagnosis will start to ease, and some aspects of life will even return to normal.

Be patient with the pace of treatment and recovery . After receiving an initial diagnosis or suffering a major health event, it can take time and an array of tests and consultations before your medical team settles on an appropriate course of treatment. It’s easy to become anxious as you wait for a clearer picture of what your road to recovery will entail. But scouring the Internet and relying on what can often be inaccurate or scary information will only make you feel worse. When you’re faced with a lot of unknowns, you can still care for yourself—eat a healthy diet, exercise, sleep well—and pursue those relationships and activities that bring you joy.

Be open to change . Rationally, no one would consider having a heart attack or receiving a cancer diagnosis as ever having any positive consequences. But it can happen. Some people diagnosed with life-threatening conditions do undergo a change in perspective that focuses them on the important things in their lives—those things that add meaning and purpose. Negative emotions such as anger or guilt can even sometimes have a positive effect, motivating you to meet treatment goals, for example. Keeping your mind open may help you to find the positives and better cope emotionally in even the darkest situations.

Facing a life-threatening illness can leave you feeling alone and cut off from even those closest to you. You may feel that other people can’t understand what you’re going through. Or perhaps those around you are trying to be so positive that you don’t feel able to open up and express how you really feel. Or perhaps you’re worried about being a burden to other people if you talk honestly about what you’re experiencing. Whatever your situation, now is not the time to retreat into your shell.

Social support can have a huge impact on your mental health when you’re facing the stress of a serious medical condition. As well as providing practical assistance, such as driving you to medical appointments or aiding you with household chores, having people to lean on is essential to your emotional well-being. Staying connected to others and continuing to enjoy social activities can make a world of difference in your mood and outlook as you undergo treatment. 

A number of studies have demonstrated a higher survival rate following a cancer diagnosis, for example, among people who are married compared to those who are not. This can likely be attributed to the greater social support offered by a spouse and children. Of course, you don’t need to be married or in a long-term relationship to benefit from the support of others.

Choose the support that’s right for you. After a serious diagnosis or health event, who you choose to confide in, lean on, and the amount of information you elect to share about your medical situation are always very personal decisions. But trying to tough it out alone will only deny those who care about you the chance to offer support.

Don’t let worries about being a burden keep you from reaching out. The people who care about you will be flattered by your trust and won’t judge you as weak or being a burden. Reaching out to them will only strengthen the bond between you.

Look for support from friends and loved ones who are good listeners.  When you choose to confide in someone, try to find someone who’s a good listener—someone who’ll listen attentively and compassionately without being distracted, judging you, or trying to tell you how you should think or feel.

Make face-time a priority.  While it’s always good to have support from friends and loved ones via phone, text, or social media, it’s important to find in-person support as well. Connecting face to face with someone who cares about you can play a huge role in relieving stress and boosting your mood.

Join a support group. A support group can be a safe place to talk about what you’re going through and get coping tips from others who are undergoing similar medical problems. Don’t be put off if you don’t click with the first group you try—it can sometimes take several attempts to find the group that works best for you.

Seek out a peer support program . There are many disease-specific organizations that can match you with a person who has survived the same type of medical condition. Whether it’s in-person, online, or via telephone, you can receive one-on-one support from someone who has firsthand experience of what you’re experiencing.

Feel that you don’t have anyone to turn to?

Many of us find ourselves alone at some point in life. It can be especially tough when you’re also facing a serious illness. But even if you feel that you have no family or close friends to lean on, that doesn’t mean you have to face your challenges alone.

As well as taking advantage of the support groups and peer support programs mentioned above, there are also plenty of things you can do to expand your social network  to find support —even at this difficult time.

It’s easy to be frightened of your feelings when you’re facing a chronic or life-threatening health condition. Like many patients, you may think that bottling up your emotions, putting on a brave face, or forcing yourself to be positive and cheerful will provide the best outcome to your illness. However, being honest about any negative emotions you’re experiencing won’t delay your recovery in any way. It may even have the opposite effect.

A 2002 review of studies into the coping styles of patients with cancer concluded that being cheerful has little effect on the success of treatment or rate of recurrence. In fact, bottling up your emotions may only increase your stress levels, elevate the amount of pain you feel, and make you more susceptible to anxiety and depression. It’s often the act of refusing to face your fears that leads to the hopelessness, sadness, and pain that can come with battling a serious illness.

Facing your emotions on the other hand, even the most painful and fearful ones, can help you to ease your stress and suffering, better come to terms with your condition, and find greater peace and physical fortitude as you work towards recovery.

Learning to face your emotions

Many of us are taught in childhood to bottle up our feelings. We internalize emotions such as fear, grief, and anger or we explode inappropriately, which serves only to fuel rather than expend unpleasant feelings. By the time we reach adulthood, we often find it difficult to even recognize what we’re really feeling. But it’s never too late to learn to reconnect with your emotions. You can start by listening to your body.

When you experience a strong emotion, you likely also feel it somewhere in your body. Perhaps your stomach tightens up every time you feel anxious or afraid, for example, or your shoulder muscles get tense when you feel a sense of grief or loss. By concentrating on these physical sensations, you can start to explore your emotions rather than trying to ignore or repress them.

When your feelings are freed, you’ll find different emotions quickly come and go. Even the most painful and difficult feelings will rapidly subside. As you undergo treatment, you may hear, read, or see something that triggers a strong, unpleasant feeling. But if you allow yourself to feel what you feel, it won’t last, and a different emotion will soon take its place.

For more on learning to connect with your emotions, see HelpGuide’s free Emotional Intelligence Toolkit .

Stress can contribute to or exacerbate many different health problems , including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disorders, chronic pain , post-operative and wound healing, and some side effects of cancer and cancer treatments. Practicing stress management techniques, however, can help you manage these health issues.

Even after you’ve had a heart attack or heart surgery, for example, stress management can help by bolstering the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation or reducing the amount of medication you need to control your blood pressure . If you’re dealing with a cancer diagnosis, managing stress can help you relieve anxiety, alleviate fatigue and sleep disturbances, and boost your mood.

Whatever your specific diagnosis, the following stress management tips can help improve your overall health and wellbeing:

Talk to someone you trust . Nothing eases stress more effectively than chatting face-to-face with a friend or loved one—another good reason to maintain social ties and activities.

Adopt a relaxation practice . Practicing a relaxation technique such as mindfulness meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, or deep breathing can help you feel calmer, lower your blood pressure, and ease stress.

Get enough sleep . A lack of sleep can exacerbate stress just as stress can make it harder to get a good night’s sleep. You can break the cycle and ensure you get enough good quality sleep at night by modifying your daytime habits and developing a peaceful bedtime routine.

Be as active as possible. Exercise is an effective way to burn-off tension and relieve stress, and it can leave you feeling more relaxed and positive throughout the day. Even if your medical condition has limited your mobility, there may still be ways for you to get active and reap the benefits.

Whatever medical condition you’re facing, it doesn’t have to define who you are as a person. By continuing to pursue those activities that bring meaning, purpose, and joy to your life, you can reaffirm that it’s these things that define you as an individual, not your illness or injury or chronic health complaint.

We’re all different so we all have different ways of experiencing meaning and joy. If your medical condition means that it’s no longer possible to pursue some of the activities you previously enjoyed, you can still find other activities that nourish and enrich your spirit.

Pick up a long-neglected hobby or try a new hobby. Taking a class or joining a club can help you pursue a hobby and expand your social network at the same time.

Learn something new , such as an instrument, a foreign language, a new game, or a new sport.

Get involved in your community. Try attending a local event or volunteering for a cause that’s important to you.

Spend time in nature. Work in your yard, take a scenic hike, go fishing, or walk a dog in the park.

Enjoy the arts . Visit a museum, go to a concert or a play, join a book group, or take up painting or photography.

Write your memoirs, a how-to book, or a blog about your experiences.

When you have a serious illness, it’s normal to feel sad about your health and grieve the hopes and dreams you may have lost as a result of your medical condition. It’s also natural to worry about what the future may hold or be apprehensive about certain treatments, for example. But if such feelings persist and start to interfere with your daily life, you may be suffering from depression or anxiety.

While mood disorders like anxiety and depression are common among patients dealing with a serious illness, they can create a vicious circle. Your illness triggers anxiety or depression, which then erodes your overall health, which in turn negatively impacts the treatment of your illness. This then worsens your mood disorder, and so on.

As well as counseling and medication, the following can help you cope with anxiety and depression:

Manage debilitating symptoms such as pain. Left untreated, pain can have a detrimental effect on your mood and increase anxious thoughts and feelings of hopelessness. Talk to your medical team about ways to better manage pain and other distressing symptoms.

Ease up on the worrying. We all worry, especially when we’re sick. But if you’re constantly overestimating the possibility that things will turn out badly or immediately jumping to worst-case scenarios, it’s time to take action. There are steps you can take to challenge your anxious thoughts , distinguish between solvable and unsolvable worries, and develop a more balanced way of looking at your situation.

Take care of yourself. Confiding in others, exercising regularly, and eating and sleeping well are all proven ways to help improve depression and anxiety symptoms.

Cut down on sugar in your diet . By reducing the amount of soft drinks, sweets, and sugary snacks in your diet , you’ll feel less anxious and avoid the mood crashes that usually follow a sugar high.

Be smart about caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Reducing or cutting out your caffeine intake can help with anxiety. Similarly, alcohol can worsen both anxiety and depression symptoms . And while it may seem like cigarettes are calming, nicotine is actually a powerful stimulant that leads to higher, not lower, levels of anxiety and stress.

Countering your “what if’s…?”

What if … the treatment doesn’t work? I can’t cope with the side effects? I have to say goodbye to my loved ones?

It’s hard to imagine that anyone who’s faced a life-threatening illness hasn’t worried about “what if” scenarios at some point. When you’re fighting for your life and faced with great uncertainty, worrying can even seem like it’s giving you some control over your situation. But as with all anxious thoughts, there are ways to calm your worrying mind and take a more balanced view:

Tell someone what you’re thinking . Saying your “what if” out loud can help you put things in perspective. If your fear is unwarranted, verbalizing it can often help you expose it for what it is—an unhelpful worry.

Challenge the thought . What’s the probability that what you’re scared of will actually happen? What are some other likely outcomes? What would you say to a friend in your situation who had the same worry?

Accept the uncertainty . Much of dealing with a serious illness is about learning to come to terms with the uncertainty of your future. Worrying about all the things that could go wrong won’t make your life any more predictable. It will only keep you from enjoying the good things you are still able to experience in the present.

When someone you care about has suffered a serious health event or is dealing with a life-threatening illness, it can be difficult to know what to say or do. You loved one is likely experiencing some painful emotions and that can make even those closest to them feel uncertain about how to best offer your support. These tips can help:

Offer your support. Your friend or loved one may be reluctant to ask for help, but it’s support from people like you that can make all the difference in their recovery. Offer to help with a specific task, even if it’s simply to sit with them during or after treatment. Sometimes, the most important thing you can do for someone is to be there.

Listen . When you talk to someone with a serious illness, it’s natural to feel awkward or not know what to say. But often the most important thing is to listen to the person. Allow them to express what they’re going through without judging them, telling them how they should feel, or trying to put a positive spin on everything.

Educate yourself about the illness but don’t give advice unless you’re asked.  The more you know about your loved one’s diagnosis and treatment, the better prepared you’ll be to help. But that doesn’t mean you should tell the person what they should or shouldn’t do, unless they specifically ask for your opinion or want to know what you’ve researched. Treatment decisions are ultimately always up to your loved one, so be supportive even if you don’t always agree.

Stay connected . Some illnesses can involve lengthy treatment, so it’s important not to just provide support at the time of diagnosis and then let your attention lapse. Your support can be just as important after treatment as it is before. 

More Information

• Coping with a Serious Health Event - How to stay mentally well after a heart attack, cancer diagnosis, or other serious health event. (Beyond Blue)
• How to Support Someone with Cancer - Tips on supporting a friend or loved one that apply to cancer or any other serious disease. (Cancer Research UK)
• Influence of psychological coping on survival and recurrence in people with cancer - Research that shows effect of different psychological coping styles. (NCBI)
• Depressive Disorders. (2013). In Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders American Psychiatric Association. Link
• Zisook, S., & Shear, K. (2009). Grief and bereavement: What psychiatrists need to know. World Psychiatry, 8 (2), 67–74. Link
• Salleh, Mohd. Razali. “Life Event, Stress and Illness.” The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences: MJMS 15, no. 4 (October 2008): 9–18. Link
• Turner, Jane, and Brian Kelly. “Emotional Dimensions of Chronic Disease.” Western Journal of Medicine 172, no. 2 (February 2000): 124–28. Link
• Maunsell, E., J. Brisson, and L. Deschênes. “Psychological Distress after Initial Treatment of Breast Cancer. Assessment of Potential Risk Factors.” Cancer 70, no. 1 (July 1, 1992): 120–25. Link
• Hack, Thomas F., and Lesley F. Degner. “Coping Responses Following Breast Cancer Diagnosis Predict Psychological Adjustment Three Years Later.” Psycho-Oncology 13, no. 4 (April 2004): 235–47. Link
• Jim, Heather S., Susan A. Richardson, Deanna M. Golden-Kreutz, and Barbara L. Andersen. “Strategies Used in Coping With a Cancer Diagnosis Predict Meaning in Life for Survivors.” Health Psychology: Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association 25, no. 6 (November 2006): 753–61. Link

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How to Write the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay + Examples

What’s covered:.

• What is the Overcoming Challenges Essay?
• Real Overcoming Challenges Essay Prompts
• How to Choose a Topic
• Writing Tips

Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

• Where to Get Your Essay Edited

While any college essay can be intimidating, the Overcoming Challenges prompt often worries students the most. Those students who’ve been lucky enough not to experience trauma tend to assume they have nothing worth saying. On the other hand, students who’ve overcome larger obstacles may be hesitant to talk about them.

Regardless of your particular circumstances, there are steps you can take to make the essay writing process simpler. Here are our top tips for writing the overcoming challenges essay successfully.

What is the “Overcoming Challenges” Essay?

The overcoming challenges prompt shows up frequently in both main application essays (like the Common App) and supplemental essays. Because supplemental essays allow students to provide schools with additional information, applicants should be sure that the subject matter they choose to write about differs from what’s in their main essay.

Students often assume the overcoming challenges essay requires them to detail past traumas. While you can certainly write about an experience that’s had a profound effect on your life, it’s important to remember that colleges aren’t evaluating students based on the seriousness of the obstacle they overcame.

On the contrary, the goal of this essay is to show admissions officers that you have the intelligence and fortitude to handle any challenges that come your way. After all, college serves as an introduction to adult life, and schools want to know that the students they admit are up to the task. 

Real “Overcoming Challenges” Essay Prompts

To help you understand what the “Overcoming Challenges” essay looks like, here are a couple sample prompts.

Currently, the Common Application asks students to answer the following prompt in 650 words or less:

“The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

For the past several years, MIT has prompted students to write 200 to 250 words on the following:

“Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?”

In both cases, the prompts explicitly ask for your response to the challenge. The event itself isn’t as important as how it pushed you to grow.

How to Choose a Topic for an Essay on Overcoming Challenges

When it comes to finding the best topic for your overcoming challenges essays, there’s no right answer. The word “challenge” is ambiguous and could be used to reference a wide range of situations from prevailing over a bully to getting over your lifelong stage fright to appear in a school musical. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind when selecting an essay subject.

1. Avoid trivial or common topics

While there aren’t many hard-and-fast rules for choosing an essay topic, students should avoid overdone topics.

These include:

• Working hard in a challenging class
• Overcoming a sports injury
• Moving schools or immigrating to the US
• Tragedy (divorce, death, abuse)

Admissions officers have read numerous essays on the subject, so it’s harder for you to stand out (see our full list of cliché college essay topics to avoid ). If events like these were truly formative to you, you can still choose to write about them, but you’ll need to be as personal as possible. 

It’s also ideal if you have a less traditional storyline for a cliché topic; for example, if your sports injury led you to discover a new passion, that would be a more unique story than detailing how you overcame your injury and got back in the game.

Similarly, students may not want to write about an obstacle that admissions committees could perceive as low stakes, such as getting a B on a test, or getting into a small fight with a friend. The goal of this essay is to illustrate how you respond to adversity, so the topic you pick should’ve been at least impactful on your personal growth.

2. Pick challenges that demonstrate qualities you want to highlight

Students often mistakenly assume they need to have experienced exceptional circumstances like poverty, an abusive parent, or cancer to write a good essay. The truth is that the best topics will allow you to highlight specific personal qualities and share more about who you are. The essay should be less about the challenge itself, and more about how you responded to it.

Ask yourself what personality traits you want to emphasize, and see what’s missing in your application. Maybe you want to highlight your adaptability, for example, but that isn’t clearly expressed in your application. In this case, you might write about a challenge that put your adaptability to the test, or shaped you to become more adaptable.

Here are some examples of good topics we’ve seen over the years:

• Not having a coach for a sports team and becoming one yourself
• Helping a parent through a serious health issue
• Trying to get the school track dedicated to a coach
• Having to switch your Model UN position last-minute

Tips for Writing an Essay About Overcoming Challenges

Once you’ve selected a topic for your essays, it’s time to sit down and write. For best results, make sure your essay focuses on your efforts to tackle an obstacle rather than the problem itself. Additionally, you could avoid essay writing pitfalls by doing the following:

1. Choose an original essay structure

If you want your overcoming challenges essay to attract attention, aim to break away from more traditional structures. Most of these essays start by describing an unsuccessful attempt at a goal and then explain the steps the writer took to master the challenge. 

You can stand out by choosing a challenge you’re still working on overcoming, or focus on a mental or emotional challenge that spans multiple activities or events. For example, you might discuss your fear of public speaking and how that impacted your ability to coach your brother’s Little League team and run for Student Council. 

You can also choose a challenge that can be narrated in the moment, such as being put on the spot to teach a yoga class. These challenges can make particularly engaging essays, as you get to experience the writer’s thoughts and emotions as they unfold.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to have succeeded in your goal for this essay. Maybe you ran for an election and lost, or maybe you proposed a measure to the school board that wasn’t passed. It’s still possible to write a strong essay about topics like these as long as you focus on your personal growth. In fact, these may make for even stronger essays since they are more unconventional topics.

2. Focus on the internal

When writing about past experiences, you may be tempted to spend too much time describing specific people and events. With an Overcoming Challenges essay though, the goal is to focus on your thoughts and feelings.

For example, rather than detail all the steps you took to become a better public speaker, use the majority of your essay to describe your mental state as you embarked on the journey to achieving your goals. Were you excited, scared, anxious, or hopeful? Don’t be afraid to let the reader in on your innermost emotions and thoughts during this process.

3. Share what you learned 

An Overcoming Challenges essay should leave the reader with a clear understanding of what you learned on your journey, be it physical, mental, or emotional. There’s no need to explicitly say “this experience taught me X,” but your essay should at least implicitly share any lessons you learned. This can be done through your actions and in-the-moment reflections. Remember that the goal is to show admissions committees why your experiences make you a great candidate for admission. 

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the g arb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

Furiously I rubbed the twigs together—rubbed and rubbed until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers. No smoke. The twigs were too young, too sticky-green; I tossed them away with a shower of curses, and began tearing through the underbrush in search of a more flammable collection. My efforts were fruitless. Livid, I bit a rejected twig, determined to prove that the forest had spurned me, offering only young, wet bones that would never burn. But the wood cracked like carrots between my teeth—old, brittle, and bitter. Roaring and nursing my aching palms, I retreated to the tent, where I sulked and awaited the jeers of my family. 

Rattling their empty worm cans and reeking of fat fish, my brother and cousins swaggered into the campsite. Immediately, they noticed the minor stick massacre by the fire pit and called to me, their deep voices already sharp with contempt. 

“Where’s the fire, Princess Clara?” they taunted. “Having some trouble?” They prodded me with the ends of the chewed branches and, with a few effortless scrapes of wood on rock, sparked a red and roaring flame. My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame. 

In the tent, I pondered my failure. Was I so dainty? Was I that incapable? I thought of my hands, how calloused and capable they had been, how tender and smooth they had become. It had been years since I’d kneaded mud between my fingers; instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano, my hands softening into those of a musician—fleshy and sensitive. And I’d gotten glasses, having grown horrifically nearsighted; long nights of dim lighting and thick books had done this. I couldn’t remember the last time I had lain down on a hill, barefaced, and seen the stars without having to squint. Crawling along the edge of the tent, a spider confirmed my transformation—he disgusted me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to squash him. 

Yet, I realized I hadn’t really changed—I had only shifted perspective. I still eagerly explored new worlds, but through poems and prose rather than pastures and puddles. I’d grown to prefer the boom of a bass over that of a bullfrog, learned to coax a different kind of fire from wood, having developed a burn for writing rhymes and scrawling hypotheses. 

That night, I stayed up late with my journal and wrote about the spider I had decided not to kill. I had tolerated him just barely, only shrieking when he jumped—it helped to watch him decorate the corners of the tent with his delicate webs, knowing that he couldn’t start fires, either. When the night grew cold and the embers died, my words still smoked—my hands burned from all that scrawling—and even when I fell asleep, the ideas kept sparking—I was on fire, always on fire.

This essay is an excellent example because the writer turns an everyday challenge—starting a fire—into an exploration of her identity. The writer was once “a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes,” but has since traded her love of the outdoors for a love of music, writing, and reading. 

The story begins in media res , or in the middle of the action, allowing readers to feel as if we’re there with the writer. One of the essay’s biggest strengths is its use of imagery. We can easily visualize the writer’s childhood and the present day. For instance, she states that she “rubbed and rubbed [the twigs] until shreds of skin flaked from my fingers.”

The writing has an extremely literary quality, particularly with its wordplay. The writer reappropriates words and meanings, and even appeals to the senses: “My face burned long after I left the fire pit. The camp stank of salmon and shame.” She later uses a parallelism to cleverly juxtapose her changed interests: “instead of scaling a white pine, I’d practiced scales on my piano.”

One of the essay’s main areas of improvement is its overemphasis on the “story” and lack of emphasis on the reflection. The second to last paragraph about changing perspective is crucial to the essay, as it ties the anecdote to larger lessons in the writer’s life. She states that she hasn’t changed, but has only shifted perspective. Yet, we don’t get a good sense of where this realization comes from and how it impacts her life going forward. 

The end of the essay offers a satisfying return to the fire imagery, and highlights the writer’s passion—the one thing that has remained constant in her life.

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

While the writer didn’t succeed in getting the track dedicated to Coach Stark, their essay is certainly successful in showing their willingness to push themselves and take initiative.

The essay opens with a quote from Coach Stark that later comes full circle at the end of the essay. We learn about Stark’s impact and the motivation for trying to get the track dedicated to him.

One of the biggest areas of improvement in the intro, however, is how the essay tells us Stark’s impact rather than showing us: His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The writer could’ve helped us feel a stronger emotional connection to Stark if they had included examples of Stark’s qualities, rather than explicitly stating them. For example, they could’ve written something like: Stark was the kind of person who would give you gas money if you told him your parents couldn’t afford to pick you up from practice. And he actually did that—several times. At track meets, alumni regularly would come talk to him and tell him how he’d changed their lives. Before Stark, I was ambivalent about running and was on the JV team, but his encouragement motivated me to run longer and harder and eventually make varsity. Because of him, I approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running.

The essay goes on to explain how the writer overcame their apprehension of public speaking, and likens the process of submitting an appeal to the school board to running a race. This metaphor makes the writing more engaging and allows us to feel the student’s emotions.

While the student didn’t ultimately succeed in getting the track dedicated, we learn about their resilience and initiative: I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Overall, this essay is well-done. It demonstrates growth despite failing to meet a goal, which is a unique essay structure. The running metaphor and full-circle intro/ending also elevate the writing in this essay.

Where to Get Your Overcoming Challenges Essay Edited

The Overcoming Challenges essay is one of the trickier supplemental prompts, so it’s important to get feedback on your drafts. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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Here’s how we can overcome global health challenges

A tax on tobacco in the Philippines funded a huge increase in the number of families enrolled in a health insurance scheme. Image:  REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

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Stay up to date:, global health.

The global health context has changed dramatically. Countries spend more on health, as the population is ageing and the burden of chronic diseases is growing; novel and expensive medicines and health technologies become available; and demand for better health is increasing as people’s income grows.

To meet these needs, countries are in a constant race to secure sufficient and sustainable financing for the health sector. But the gap between the financial needs of health systems and actual spending continues to widen. Even the wealthiest nations struggle to keep up with ever-increasing costs of health services.

In the meantime, Sustainable Development Goals put significant pressure on governments to maintain and scale up health services. Health systems are bursting at the seams; and the low and middle-income countries are hit the hardest. Everyone agrees the health of the people is important, although not everyone knows where to find sufficient resources to pay for it. Money can buy health only if it is spent equitably and efficiently.

Economies grow and countries transition

Countries that demonstrate economic growth tend to spend more on health. In countries with medium and high levels of economic growth, growth in healthcare spending can stimulate the economy. In many countries, health spending grew faster than the economy.

A recent economic slowdown suggests that countries cannot be complacent and rely solely on existing financial capacity to maintain and scale up health services. Countries develop and graduate from one income status to another. When low-income countries develop into middle income countries, the level of official development assistance they receive suddenly plummets, exposing them to risks of institutional and financial instability. This process is called a “health financing transition”.

Countries differ in the way they transition; and in the pace of their investment in health. Those that lag behind economically-similar countries do so for several reasons. They may lack the capacity to raise funds. They may not think of health as a priority investment. Lastly, some countries continue to rely on donors and fail to maximise financing for the health sector by leveraging the private sector.

Financing for health is more than mobilising resources

Achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030 requires countries to raise funds to provide health services; reduce inequalities in the ability to pay; and ensure financial protection against impoverishment due to spending on health.

It all starts with generating enough domestic revenue that can be pooled in an insurance fund to buy services that people need. When this pooling is weak, people have to pay for healthcare out of their own pocket.

The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health estimated that an additional $70-$90 billion is needed annually to make basic services universally available, which corresponds to a third of low and lower-middle income countries’ total health spending. Getting resources in place is the first step in a chain of decisions: what health services to purchase, from whom, and how to pay.

Health is one of many priorities

Countries raise and spend money on health when they are committed to doing so. Political will and desire define whether health wins over military or other expenses. Aspiration to raise funds for health does not mean it is immediately possible. Low and lower-middle income countries use between 63% and 78% of their potential to raise revenue.

Not long ago, India, Indonesia, and Myanmar allocated less than 6% of government resources to health, less than many African countries.

Other countries have enjoyed similar success: Vietnam and Singapore increased their government health spending from 5.6% and 7.4% of government expenditure in 2004 to 14.2% and 14.1% respectively in 2014.

Taxes are good for health

Resources for health can be raised by growing government revenues through effective tax collection and combating tax evasion. Rich countries raise more revenue as a share of GDP; and taxes constitute the largest share of their domestic revenue. Poorer countries have weaker tax collection systems. In around half of low and low-middle income countries, tax represents less than 15% of their GDP.

Several countries – Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Senegal – have fully exploited their capacity for collecting taxes, and any extra efforts in this area are unlikely to result in additional financing for health.

Taxes can also be earmarked for health. For example, Djibouti and Guatemala direct the revenue from tobacco taxes to health. Economists argue if earmarking tax revenue for health actually leads to increased health budgets – governments may simply reduce health funding from their other sources of revenue.

Tax avoidance strategies – such as base erosion and profit shifting – tax incentives to companies, and corruption also undermine the capacity of developing countries to collect tax revenues. The evidence that tax exemptions and credits result in larger foreign investments is scarce. In fact, aside from special cases, tax incentives cause a loss of revenue.

The IMF recommends setting revenue targets and broadening the tax base. While income and value-added taxes constitute major sources of income in the developed world, the grey economy of developing countries results in missed opportunities for revenue collection.

Lastly, the experience of the Philippines between 2012 and 2016 is one of the most compelling examples of ambitious national tobacco tax reform. It involved a fundamental restructuring of the country’s tobacco excise tax structure and substantial tax increases. This funded an increase in the number of families enrolled in a health insurance scheme, from 5.2 million primary members in 2012 to 15.3 million in 2015.

Borrowing remains an option

For some countries, broadening the tax base or increasing the efficiency of tax collection is an impossible immediate task. In this case, borrowing provides countries with an opportunity to “live through” the crisis, while front-loading immediate investment needs.

Many countries took advantage of a prolonged period of low global interest rates and access to development financing. Sovereign debt has continued to grow over the past 20 years, with net debt inflows in low and middle-income countries, excluding China, reaching $194 billion in 2016. Although borrowing provides the funds upfront, many economists are concerned that countries may not have the capacity to repay their debt.

Striving forward

The global health community has put the spotlight on domestic financing for health. Trillions of dollars will be needed to accomplish the SDGs. Projections suggest that even by 2040, only seven of today’s low-income countries will be able to reach the target for sufficient government health spending.

The momentum for Universal Health Coverage draws attention to all aspects of health financing reform: from mobilising domestic resources, to ensuring the efficiency of resource use, and equity in coverage of financial protection.

The era of a nearsighted approach to development has passed and countries, development organisations, and the private sector should come together in a spirit of unity to look at the health sector and governance from a system perspective. By strengthening co-operation in a fractured world we can overcome global health challenges.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Bank Group.

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Essays About Overcoming Challenges: Top 5 Examples

Confront challenges in writing by reading our guide with example essays about overcoming challenges and helpful prompts. 

Whether your problems have been failing a subject, getting retrenched at work, or losing someone you love, overcoming challenges is a relief and successful feat always worthy of celebration. 

Overcoming challenges requires patience and persistence to advance your goals despite failures. If you aim for something great in life, you can anticipate facing constant obstacles on your way. However, to successfully hurdle them, a positive and focused mindset coupled with the ability to regulate your emotions will help you go a long way.

5 Essay Examples

1. ​​how to succeed at failure by arthur brooks, 2. how to overcome family problems by vinaya ghimre, 3. when obstacles become opportunities to work better by tim harford, 4. how you can stop global warming by melissa denchak, 5. how countries deal with debt, 10 helpful writing prompts on essays about overcoming challenges, 1. my inspiration for overcoming challenges, 2. helping persons with disabilities (pwds) overcome discrimination, 3. overcoming challenges for students, 4. overcoming mental health issues, 5. overcoming challenges in budgeting, 6. overcoming challenges from childhood, 7. how startups overcome financing challenges, 8. overcoming bullies, 9. overcoming challenges in memory retention, 10. overcoming challenges in income inequality.

“After you have been hurt by a failed relationship, for example, rumination can make you focus on the past instead of the future, so you are less likely to get out there and try again. You’re frozen in your moment of failure as you turn defeat over and over in your mind. You become fearful, lose confidence, and miss your opportunities for new success.”

This essay explores the cognitive studies of a professor’s happiness and includes success tips to help one overcome challenges. One tip that eches with relevance is our need to stop aiming for success and shift toward learning and improvement. For more, check out these essays about life challenges .

“Culture and tradition ask young people to respect their parents and elders’ decisions, whereas modern education teaches them to have their own view of life. Neither the educational system is wrong nor are the parents trying to harm their children. However, truth is, the difference in opinions creates family conflict.”

This essay strives to explain the root causes of conflicts to help readers better navigate the nature of their family problems. The author also offers tips to overcome family tensions, such as being more tolerant and understanding of family members. 

“A shock can prompt us to find new and better ways to live our lives, both individually and collectively. We try new ideas, develop new skills, invest in new kit and draw strength from the fact that others are doing likewise. Resilience is essential but not enough: we need to be able to explore, experiment and adapt.”

As COVID-19 redefined the way we live, we are forced to find new paths to rediscovering better ways of living. Offering lessons from the life of musician Django Reinhardt and the pandemic, the author notes that with the right mindset and commitment to more significant change, we can bring light to a dark period and even rebound stronger and better. 

“ The effects of climate change are already threatening our health, our communities, our economy, our security, and our children’s future. What can you do? A whole lot, as it turns out. ”

Slowing down global warming and building resilience against climate change are critical missions to the world that everyone has to be part of. This essay lists 12 specific actions one can take to help combat global warming in their day-to-day lives, with each tip backed by data showing how big this seemingly small act can mean.

“While higher debt can slow growth and slower growth may cause sovereign debt to rise, the level of debt at which it turns into a problem depends on a country’s particulars, including sources of its debt financing and economic growth catalysts.”

As debts in several countries have ballooned to record highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, governments are finding new sources of revenue to reduce this debt. The article explains dominant economic beliefs about debt and cites its negative consequences on countries. 

Whoever it may be, write about the person whose accomplishments and constant efforts always remind you that you can overcome challenges in life. List down the qualities you admire and how you practice adopting these qualities. You can also elaborate on why these qualities are crucial for the younger generations.

PWDs face discrimination every day and are forced to make adjustments to be part of society. So first, spell out the current challenges PWDs face. Next, you can narrow down this discussion to the situation in your locality. And then, write down what your government is doing to move toward genuine inclusiveness and enable PWDs to cope better in their daily lives. Some examples could be educating the public about how society should accommodate PWDs and creating more wheelchair-accessible destinations. 

Students may struggle in their academic and extracurricular performance while dealing with anxieties over social relationships and growing up. Enumerate the multiple challenges students face on campus and at home. You can share your own experiences and relay how you have overcome them. You can also interview some friends and consolidate their responses. 

With raging geopolitical tensions and the road to recovery from COVID-19 still a long way to go, cases of anxiety and depression are on the rise . First, write about the detrimental effects of such mental health issues on overall well-being and life – as depression is a trigger to suicide. Then write about what specific parts of society are doing to address the mental health crisis. For example, you can cite the efforts your city health office is providing.

With more uncertainties looming for the economy, overcoming bad money habits is imperative. This essay describes the colossal challenge of balancing the need to save, spend for basic needs and invest. Then provide tips on saving and doing away with bad habits. One prudent advice would be to review spending patterns through a statement of accounts. 

Feelings of emptiness can plague even the most successful people. Often, this emptiness could be traced back to challenges in childhood. This essay explains adults’ difficulties in facing their repressed childhood trauma—research recommendations by psychology experts on breaking free from the contempt against parents. Here, you can tackle the benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy to alter harmful thoughts and behavioral patterns.

The biggest obstacle to the commercial success of startups is adequate financing to bring their concepts into reality. For this essay, lay down the financing options available to startups in your country. Often, countries promoting innovative startups have assistance funds. You can encourage startups to tap these funds by enumerating the eligibility criteria of each fund. Look also into the latest surveys and reports showing trends in investing preferences worldwide. 

Bullying can come in different forms and may even initially disguise itself as a playful joke. Help your readers detect bullying and overcome these challenges early. Write about the early signs of bullying and the best ways to defend against it. Keeping records of the incident and immediately filing a report to higher authorities is often the best way to deter bullies. If you want to be guided more on this topic prompt, check out our essays about bullying . 

Forgetting is normal. But the pressures to remember an overwhelming load of information can be high during examination week. For an interesting kick in your essay, talk about famous memory theories such as the Forgetting Curve by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus , which sheds light on why we forget and how we can remember better. Then, write more tips on how one can retain information longer. Not cramming is one helpful suggestion.

First, point out historical events and trends that have exacerbated the divide between the rich and the poor. For instance, several studies have blamed the digital divide. Next, think about what societies can do to narrow this gap. With this, you can also touch on how much your government is spending to improve digital infrastructure in rural areas and look into whether these resources are mobilized efficiently. 

For more help with your essay, check out our roundup of the best grammar checkers .  Grammarly is one of our top grammar checkers, and you can find out why in this Grammarly review .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Strategies to Reduce Mental Illness Stigma: Perspectives of People with Lived Experience and Caregivers

Associated data.

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due institutional policy but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Background: Reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness is a global public health priority. Traditionally, anti-stigma campaigns were led by mental health professionals/organisations and had an emphasis on increasing mental health literacy. More recently, it has been argued that people with lived experience have much to contribute in terms of extending and strengthening these efforts. The purpose of this paper was to elicit views and suggestions from people with lived experience (PWLE) as well as from informal caregivers of people with mental health conditions, on effective strategies to combat the stigma surrounding mental illness. Methods: Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were carried out with PWLE recruited at outpatient services at the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, and five FGDs were carried out with informal caregivers who responded to advertisements for the study between March and November 2018. In all, the sample comprised 42 PWLE and 31 caregivers. All the FGDs were transcribed verbatim and were analysed using thematic analysis. A pragmatic approach was adopted for the study, and the researchers did not assume any particular philosophical orientation. Results: Four overarching themes depicting strategies to combat stigma were identified through thematic analysis. They were (1) raising mental health awareness, (2) social contact, (3) advocacy by influential figures or groups, and (4) the legislation of anti-discriminatory laws. Conclusions: These strategies were in line with approaches that have been used internationally to disrupt the process of stigma. Our study has further identified nuanced details on how these strategies can be carried out as well as possible areas of priority in the Singapore landscape.

1. Introduction

The stigma of living with a mental health condition has been described as being worse than the experience of the illness itself [ 1 ]. The aversive reactions that members of the general population have towards people with mental illness is known as public stigma and can be understood in terms of (i) stereotypes, (ii) prejudice, and (iii) discrimination [ 2 ]. Common stereotypes associated with people with mental health conditions are that they are dangerous, incompetent, and weak in character. Prejudice refers to the agreement with these stereotypes, while discrimination refers to behavioural reactions to these prejudices [ 3 ].

Beyond the interpersonal manifestations of public stigma towards people with mental health conditions, societal-level conditions such as institutional policies and practices and cultural norms have also been found to be biased against people with mental health conditions, resulting in a lack of opportunities and resources being afforded to them [ 4 ]. These socio-political disinclinations, known as structural stigma, result in people with mental health conditions being excluded from employment, living in unstable and unsafe conditions, being disqualified from health insurance, and being subjected to coercive hospitalisation and treatment [ 5 , 6 ]. The deprivation of opportunities and poor-quality resources provided to those with mental health conditions have severe bearings, as evidenced by the gross overrepresentation of individuals with mental health conditions in the criminal justice system and among those living in poverty [ 7 ]. People with mental health conditions also have significantly higher morbidity and mortality rates [ 8 ], and consequent to all the above, have a lower quality of life compared to the general population [ 9 , 10 ].

Through repeated encounters with public and structural stigma, individuals with mental health conditions are inclined to internalise these reactions, a phenomenon known as self-stigma. A systematic review found that exposure to public stigma predicts self-stigma at a later time [ 11 , 12 ]. A person’s own stigmatizing views towards mental illness is associated with lower readiness to appraise his or her own symptoms as potentially indicating a mental health problem and thus reduces help-seeking behaviour [ 13 ]. This could be because the individual seeks to avoid the label of mental illness for him- or herself [ 14 ], fathomably to guard themselves against the negative self-perceptions associated with it and the potential consequences of shame and reduced empowerment [ 15 ]. Indeed, self-stigma decreases one’s self-esteem and self-efficacy, leading to the “why try effect”, where people with mental health conditions question their worthiness and capability to pursue personal goals [ 16 , 17 ], leading to a loss of self-respect and increased shame and hopelessness [ 18 , 19 ]. Over time, higher levels of self-stigma have been found to be associated with suicidal ideation [ 18 , 20 ].

Due to these adverse effects of stigma, stigma-reduction is seen as a global public health priority [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Anti-stigma programmes were traditionally conducted by or in substantial consultation with groups representing psychiatric expertise [ 25 ]. However, several criticisms have been raised towards this approach in the recent years. First, the emphasis on medical understandings of mental health problems and the importance of adhering to psychiatric interventions have been criticised as fulfilling the psychiatric services agenda rather than the interest of people with mental health conditions and eclipsing inputs from other standpoints [ 3 , 26 ]. Next, mental health professionals have been found to be just as likely to stigmatise those with mental health conditions [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Thus, is has been argued that the professional expertise that mental health professionals have in providing mental health services may be insufficient in impacting the social spheres in which stigma operate, and it may be timely for them to move to a supporting role [ 30 ].

In recent years, anti-stigma programmes have involved people with lived experience to allow direct or parasocial interactions between target audiences and people with mental health conditions. Contact-based interventions have demonstrated the clearest evidence in reducing stigmatising attitudes, desire for social distancing and discrimination [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Contact-based interventions typically involve brief contact between members of a majority group and a stranger representing the stigmatized population who is quite different from a naturally occurring contact. Stigma is reduced by providing an opportunity for interpersonal contact between people who have mental illness and individuals who may hold stigma towards them. A key ingredient of contact-based interventions is the delivery of testimonies by service users [ 34 ]. The efficacy of contact-based education has led to calls for collaborations with individuals with mental health conditions to offer their experiential wisdom in challenging stigma, representing the voice of those who struggle with mental health difficulties and shedding light on blind spots and gaps in previous strategies [ 3 , 35 ]. Corrigan asserted that just as disability rights groups have adopted the slogan of “no policy or action should be taken about a group without full participation of that group”, the same should be applied to alleviate mental health stigma [ 30 ]. Additionally, while we have thus far described the negative processes that arise from stigma, there are people with mental health conditions who do not agree with the hackneyed stereotypes and respond with indignation that seems to empower and energise them to advocate for changes to the ways in which they are treated [ 2 ]. Their inputs towards initiatives that are aimed at improving service delivery and de-stigmatisation programmes have been found to lead to novel results and have been described as a strength of those programmes [ 35 , 36 ].

Singapore is a small, highly urbanised, multi-cultural country located at the Southern tip of the Malayan Peninsula. The resident population is made up of 75.9% Chinese, 15.0% Malay, 7.5% Indian, and 1.6% other ethnicities [ 37 ]. A developed country, the culture of Singapore can be described as a combination of Eastern and Western cultures, and English is the primary language of instruction. Stigma towards mental illness remains prevalent in Singapore today. An earlier nationwide survey revealed that 38.3% of the population believed that people with mental illness are dangerous, and 49.6% felt that people need to be protected from psychiatric patients [ 38 ]. A decade later, another population survey, which used a vignette-based approach, reported that 50.8% of respondents indicated that mental illness was a sign of personal weakness, 42.8% were unwilling to work closely with a person with mental health conditions on a job, and 70.2% were unwilling to have a person with mental health conditions marry into their family [ 39 ]. A recent qualitative study of daily encounters of personal stigma reported themes such as social exclusion, subjection to contemptuous treatment, and rejection by employers following the declaration of a mental health condition [ 40 ].

Anti-stigma activities in Singapore have been conducted by the state psychiatric institution, the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), the National Council of Social Service, the Health Promotion Board (statutory boards), and non-profit organisations such as the Singapore Association for Mental Health and Silver Ribbon Singapore, who have the collective aims of improving mental health literacy, access to mental health care, and improving the reintegration of people with mental health conditions into the community [ 41 , 42 ]. However, the involvement of individuals with mental health conditions in anti-stigma campaigns is lacking. The purpose of this paper was thus to elicit views and suggestions from people with lived experience (PWLE) and informal caregivers of people with mental health conditions on effective strategies to combat stigma.

The present study is part of a larger study that aimed to examine the nature of mental illness stigma in Singapore from the perspectives of five stakeholder groups, namely PWLE, informal caregivers, members of the general public, professionals working in mental health settings, and policy makers. The main purpose of this research was to provide actionable knowledge. It took a pragmatic approach common in health services research and did not assume any particular methodological orientation [ 43 ]. Only data from PWLE and caregivers were used in this analysis. The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee, the National Healthcare Group Domain Specific Review Board. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before initiating study related procedures.

2.1. Participants

PWLE and caregivers were recruited through referrals by their clinicians or self-referral by learning about the study though poster advertisements placed in waiting areas at the IMH outpatient clinics. The IMH is Singapore’s largest provider of mental health care, providing pharmacological and psychosocial treatments as well as psychosocial rehabilitation for a range of subspecialties, including child and adolescent psychiatry, affective disorders, and psychosis. It has also spearheaded mental health education and anti-stigma events for the public. All the participants were required to be Singapore citizens and permanent residents, aged 21 years old and above, and could not be a student or professional from the mental health field.

PWLE recruitment was limited to two types of psychiatric diagnoses, mood and psychotic disorders, to attain a more homogenous account of encounters with stigma. The groups were also separated by diagnosis to facilitate the identification of members in a group with each other and to provide comfort when expressing themselves. In all, six Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted with PWLE between March to May 2018 (three with individuals with mood disorders, three with those with psychosis-related disorders). Referred and self-referred PWLE were deemed clinically stable by their treating clinicians and were able to provide informed consent.

Although the poster advertisements indicated that the study sought caregivers of individuals with psychosis-related or mood disorders, no attempt was made to confirm the diagnosis of their care recipients with the treating clinicians. The caregiver group was independent of the PWLE group. Unlike the PWLE FGDs, the caregivers were not separated based on the diagnosis of their care recipient. As the initial FGDs did not identify any issue with this approach, the team carried out the rest of the FGDs in a similar manner. In all, five FGDs were conducted with caregivers between June and November 2018.

The PWLE FGDs ranged from 5–8 participants, while the caregiver FGDs ranged from 4–9 participants. The sociodemographic profiles of the PWLE and caregiver participants are presented in Table 1 . Participants received an inconvenience fee at the end of the FGD. All FGDs were conducted in English.

Sociodemographic characteristics.

# 1 missing PWLE response for Highest Completed Education.

2.2. Data Collection

The FGDs were conducted in a closed room that was relatively free from distractions in a community club, which was chosen because it is a neutral venue. Each FGD was conducted by two study team members, who served as the facilitator or the note taker for the day. The facilitators (either MS or SS) were trained and experienced in qualitative research methodologies. CMJG, OWJ, GTTH, SS, and MS took turns as note-takers in the different FGDs.

After individual consent was taken to participate in the research and to audio-record the session, each participant filled out a sociodemographic form that collated information about age, gender, education level, ethnicity, and brief information about their illness (for PWLE) or caregiving relationship (for caregivers), and the completed form was returned to the facilitator. Participants were assured that all of the data collected from them would be kept confidential, the transcripts would be de-identified such that names and other identifying features would be omitted, the audio-recording would be deleted after transcription, and that there were no correct or incorrect answers before the discussion commenced.

The experienced facilitators used a topic guide comprising open-ended questions that had been developed by the research team so that the data collected across the various FGDs would be as uniform as possible. Few specific questions were designed to elicit information that could be best addressed by a particular target group. The topic guide covered areas of mental illness stigma such as encounters of stigma and reasons for stigma. The team formulated the questions in a manner similar to that recommended by Krueger et al. [ 44 ], the recommendations of whom comprised the following: The questions should elicit information that directly relates to the study’s objectives. The questions should be easy for the participants to understand and should be phrased in a neutral manner so as not to bias participant responses. The questions can be answered by all the participants. Questions should be open-ended and not answered with a “yes” or “no” to facilitate descriptive responses. The questions should not make the participants uncomfortable when answering, and they should not trigger defensive responses. The team brainstormed the questions to answer the objectives of the research, and one researcher drafted the questioning route, rephrased, and reordered the questions to form a logical flow. The draft was circulated to the rest of the team, and suggestions were incorporated. The team aimed to keep the final total number of questions between 10–12. Decisions to omit questions were based on importance in addressing the research objectives, with final decisions being made by the lead investigator (MS). The questions were then tested out, using the first focus group as a pilot. The items that were used to elicit responses to the research question addressed in this paper was from the final segment of the topic guide: “How do you think stigma towards people with mental illness can be reduced” and “Have you heard of campaigns to reduce stigma towards those with mental illness? Is there anything that can be done better?”. The facilitator probed for range and depth of responses and sought clarification for responses that were unclear using neutral questions. Attempts were made to encourage responses from all members. The entire duration of each FGD lasted between 1.5–2 h. FGDS were carried out one at a time, first with the PWLE and then with the caregivers. At the end of each FGD, there was a debrief between the facilitator and note-taker, and a comprehensive summary was provided to the rest of the research team soon after to reflect on each session, to ensure that any problems were identified early and addressed, and emerging themes and unique points that had been raised were discussed. The FGDs were later transcribed verbatim for analysis. The decision was made by the team to cease data collection for PWLE and the caregiver groups when no new themes were identified, i.e., when data saturation was reached.

2.3. Analysis

The data were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis method [ 45 ]. Transcripts were first distributed amongst five study team members (SS, CMJG, GTTH, OWJ, and MS) for familiarisation with the collected data. Subsequently, each study team member independently identified preliminary codes from their respective transcripts. The study team members then came together, and through an iterative process of comparing the codes and combining, discarding, and redefining the codes, collaboratively decided on the final list of codes. A codebook was developed by the coders (SS, CMJG, GTTH, OWJ, and MS), in which each code was characterised by a description, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and typical and atypical exemplars to guide the coding process. To ensure coding consistency among the study team members, one transcript was first coded to establish inter-rater reliability. The study team continued to discuss, refine the codebook, and repeat the coding with another transcript until a satisfactory inter-rater reliability score was achieved (Cohen’s Kappa score > 0.75). Transcripts were then distributed among the study team members for coding. Data analysis was completed with Nvivo Version 11.0. (QSR International Pty Ltd. Hawthorn East, Australia).

After coding all transcripts, the codes were sorted such that similar codes were grouped together to form potential themes. Codes that did not seem to fit into any theme at first were revisited as the themes were gradually refined. Relationships between these themes were also examined, and different levels (main theme and sub-themes) were identified. Any remaining codes were compared against the revised themes to determine fit. The initial themes were drafted by SS, JCMG, GTTH, OWJ, and MS and presented to CSA for further refinement before finalisation.

Strategies to ensure the quality of the findings recommended by Anney [ 46 ] were exercised in this research. Data were triangulated from two different informant sources: patients and caregivers. The transcripts were read and re-read by five researchers independently. The interpretations were compared, and regular meetings were held to discuss differences until a consensus was reached. These informant and researcher triangulations aimed to increase the credibility of the findings. To ensure transferability, the participants were sampled in such a way that there was good distribution by age, gender, education level, and ethnicity, and for the caregivers, relationship with the care-recipient. Finally, for confirmability, intentional record keeping of summaries and reflections after each FGD as well as decisions made during the coding and analysis were documented to maintain an audit trail.

Four overarching themes depicting the strategies to combat stigma were identified. They included (1) raising mental health awareness, (2) social contact, (3) advocacy by influential figures or groups, and (4) legislation of anti-discriminatory laws. It was not uncommon for participants to refer to two or more approaches in a single quote. While we have selected quotes to illustrate the main theme, they may cross-cover other themes to some degree. To ensure that standard usage of English was maintained, minimally corrected verbatim of quotes are presented.

3.1. Raising Mental Health Awareness

There were two subthemes pertaining to the strategy of raising mental health awareness, which can be described as the “who and how” and “what” of this approach.

3.1.1. Target Groups/Setting and Methods

Anti-stigma awareness initiatives for the general population were frequently suggested by participants, and they recommended outreach through both traditional and social media as well as popular mass events such as marathons and festivals in order to reach a wide range of members of the public from the young to the old. They also emphasised that these efforts should be carried out repeatedly, reasoning that increased exposure to the topic will lead to greater familiarity and with time, greater acceptance of this taboo subject.

You all have to do a lot of campaigns, running it tends to stick in their minds (Male, 37 years, Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE FGD 5)

Educating the public because it is very important. More on media because there are many people on the internet or computer, TV and all sorts ah, newspaper of course, articles, so that more people will come to know so that lesser, I mean to accept slowly. The stigma will grow weaker and weaker, not that strong. (Female, 65 years, Caregiver FGD 3)

With regards to media portrayal, the participants discouraged the use of drama in and of itself as a means of education. They asserted that such media forms tend to sensationalise mental illness through negative characterizations that further reinforce existing stereotypes. Instead, they prefer coverage through documentaries and talk shows.

I think drama is not a good way to go to raise awareness of mental illness because in drama, it’s drama what. You have to be dramatic, and you have to be dramatic you have to sensationalise. But maybe talk shows are better. Talk show where they invite celebrities together with professionals and then they talk it out. (Male, 28 years, Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE FGD 5)

Raising mental health awareness in two specific target groups was frequently brought up. The first group that the participants wanted to increase mental health awareness in was among school students. The participants rationalised that it would be easier to influence young people whose attitudes are more malleable. They also voiced concerns that youth are a vulnerable group due the heightened challenges they face such as intense academic pressures and societal expectations. Thus, they would benefit from literacy-based interventions to facilitate early recognition and help-seeking behaviours. Some of the participants suggested an incremental approach whereby younger primary school-age students could be primed with information on mental well-being before being introduced to more serious topics on mental health conditions.

Education from, it’s ok for those who are already old enough like us, we can’t like, some people we can’t really unlearn what we learn so we have to teach the new generation and input in what are the more important things, like for example, the major concerns as of now and like how important is mental health so that they won’t grow up to be like their parents or like whoever. So, I think it starts from the younger ones la they will receive fresh information and they won’t have any judgement against us (Female, 22 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 2)

I think it should start across Singapore, like for example, starting from schools, starting from workplaces, meeting the employers you know, the teachers, the, the facilitators, starting from there you know. So, when you have that well-established, designed activities you know, I mean the initiative, we have that initiative to go to, to the schools you know, at a younger age when they already start to understand, so when they come to work, as an maybe an employer, so they can understand further what happens to the subordinates, what happens to the employees who have mental illness. (Female, 48 years, Caregiver FGD 5)

The second target group was employers. The participants commented that in contrast to the recent advances in efforts to raise mental health awareness, workplaces were especially lagging in this regard, and overt stigmatisation continues to occur in workplaces. Legislative measures were also recommended to combat stigma and discrimination in this setting (this will be further elaborated in the fourth theme).

Essentially run multiple small campaigns across companies so we start from the top tier and then you go down to the middle tier and then into the SME like a small, very small enterprises and things like that to do awareness campaign with all their HR [Human Resource], their ops [operations] department and things like that so that they learn. So at least if the managers learn, hopefully they’ll pass that on, not always. It will not always happen, but it might you know, so at least there’s a trickle-down effect and it last longer (Male, 28 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 6)

I think the Singapore government is very effective, and they are respectable, so Ministry of Health or IMH organize talk to the employers, to the unions, trade unions. (Male, 64 years, Caregiver FGD 5)

3.1.2. Types of Content

The participants recommended that messages pertaining to the prevalence of mental illness debunking common myths about mental illness and likening it instead to other chronic illnesses could reduce stigma and demystify mental illness. The participants also recommended disseminating information on where and how mental illness can be managed as well as the efficacy of treatments to emphasise the treatability of mental illnesses.

Get the MP [member of parliament] come and talk, share with them, share with the population, mental illness is common. Especially depression, 1 in 5, in the population will get depression, or even now, now 1 in 4. (Male, 64 years, Caregiver FGD 5)

To me education is the best way to, to erase all these myths (Male, 49 years, Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE FGD 4)

Let them know, no big deal. It is just like any other chronic illness. I say in your whole lifetime anyone can suffer some from of mental illness. (Female, 65 years, Caregiver FGD 3)

The PWLE cautioned that anti-stigma messages should not result in “over-normalisation” or careless over-identification of mental illness and trivialisation among lay members of the public, as it makes light of the disruptions to the lives of those who have been diagnosed with them and the suffering they bring.

You don’t want to reduce stigma so much to the point when somebody likes oh I like to put my water bottle on the right side, oh I’m OCD. You know. Or like oh I had a negative thought that came in, oh I have schizophrenia. You don’t want people to like over-normalise it, cause that does happen in these days. Like when just somebody likes to be neat, they consider themselves OCD. Yeah, it’s so frustrating. The definition of mental illness is it’s supposed to disrupt your natural life. If it doesn’t disrupt your life in any way, it’s not supposed to be considered a mental illness. So, when people are like oh I’m very OCD, or like oh I have depression. Yeah, everybody has depression. (Female, 23 years, Psychosis related disorder, PWLE FGD 5)

They also did not wish for others to take pity on them or treat them differently on account of their mental illness but to instead be supportive in their recovery.

You shouldn’t get them to sympathize with you, more like to understand them. Rather than like say that okay you must be careful of this people, you must just give them information you know (Male, 24 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 6)

We would educate them on how to less stigma, how to know about our condition, then how to actually support us in the recovery process (Female, 34 years, Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE- FGD 4)

3.2. Social Contact

Three kinds of social contact were raised by the participants: celebrity disclosures, testimonies of success stories by people with mental health conditions and opportunities to interact with them.

3.2.1. Celebrity Disclosures

The participants exemplified that the disclosure of mental health struggles by local celebrities as being particularly impactful. They reasoned that Singapore has a celebrity culture in which celebrities have a large following and influence. Sharing their mental health difficulties would drive the message that mental illness does not discriminate, debunk certain stereotypes associated with mental illness, validate the experiences of those coming to terms with their illness, and encourage open and honest discussion about mental illness.

I think it’s good if you can get someone, well known in Singapore, to share about their family members having mental illness or they themselves having mental illness. (Female, 51 years, Caregiver FGD 5)

In Singapore, there is a podcast. That is actually supposed to be a comedy podcast, but every now and then it gets a bit real. And they talk about themselves. So, I think, I don’t know if you guys know Nathan Hartono? He runs a podcast with his friend named Jon Kensey who’s also based in Singapore. He’s Filipino but he’s based in Singapore. He does comedy shows, he does, he’s a comedian. He does all these funny little things but every now and then when we write in, and we are allowed to write in to them it’ll just be like an idea of what would you suggest if we are going through this thing. So, he actually openly talks about his depression. So, he’ll share experiences, he’ll share what he would do, he would make things very clear that it’s not supposedly the only way or the best way to do things but that’s how he would have done it. Yeah, and the thing these little things help knowing that even people who are supposedly seen on a higher pedestal is also facing the same things as you are. Yeah, really changes a lot (Male, 23 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 1)

3.2.2. Sharing Inspirational Recovery Stories

Apart from celebrity figures, the PWLE suggested that inspiring recovery stories of people with lived experiences can be included in anti-stigma efforts. They reasoned that these stories illustrate that mental illness does not need to be a barrier to attaining a meaningful life, that people with mental health conditions could be productive members of society, an embodiment of strength and courage despite adversity, and give hope to those worried about their or their loved one’s future.

I remember that time I was watching the news about lady, she suffered from mental illness but she… she see doctors, follows up regularly, she is recovered in that sense. She secured a job as a lecturer in one of the local polytechnic. She wrote a book. She was very frank with her employer, that was good, and they accept her as she is but she still go back to the hospital like every several months for follow-up and stuff like that. So I find that very enlightening. That there is such people who actually like make good head way in their life despite having mental illness. So I think if you can find more of such people and interview them highlight to the public that is actually… we can also be successful in their own way, it will be good. (Female, 44 years, Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE FGD 3)

3.2.3. Opportunities for Social Contact

The participants opined that it would be beneficial for those without mental illnesses to have opportunities for direct social contact with PWLE. They identified the benefits of this strategy as allowing people to relate to PWLE on a more personal level and debunk extreme examples of mental illness. They added that such a first-hand experience would be more compelling than didactic approaches.

( Another participant: Education is important) And exposure, I think. Because education is like you are telling people you know? But I think exposure for them to experience it, interaction with people with mental illness. It really speaks more than words. How they… because people always have this misconception ‘oh ok, mental illness, violence, negative, crazy, talking to yourself…’ But in fact, in fact most mental patients are not like that, they don’t behave that way. (Female, 39 years, Caregiver FGD 1)

I would emphasize priorities on interaction between the regular population and those with illness. To let them realize there’s no big difference. (Male, 24 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 6)

3.3. Advocacy by Influential Figures or Groups

The participants felt that the question of “who” leads the de-stigmatisation efforts matters. Some participants suggested that mental health experts should partner with organisations that have larger influence, while others asserted that the efforts should be helmed by organisations other than psychiatric experts.

Because like even in my head, the assumption is it’ll probably come from IMH. Which to me is not the most effective method of campaigning because then everybody would be like, yeah they would do this, of course they would do this. So, I think, no. (Male, 23 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 1)

They identified individuals and groups with political affiliations as being particularly suited due to their authoritative influence, networks, and access to funds.

To be effective it has to be nationwide, government-led initiative. It cannot be a little bit here and there, by IMH or by Caregiver Alliance, it doesn’t really work. It has to be nationwide and it has to have the support of the government. First, they have the resources and as what (another FGD participant) said uh, they can be very effective if they are very serious in wanting this campaign to be successful, they can do it. (Female, 51 years, Caregiver FGD 5)

3.4. Legislation of Anti-Discriminatory Laws

3.4.1. removal of declaration of mental illness in job application and scholarship forms.

In virtually all the FGDs, the participants called for the removal of the declaration of mental illness from job application and scholarship application forms. They regarded this requirement as being both irrelevant and discriminatory and believed that their unsuccessful applications were directly due to their disclosure.

Now we talk about the functional ability of a mental illness person, we talk about work. When you work, you need to fill in a lot of forms. There are a lot of things that…why must there be a declaration by the organisation? Why? Why? That is not good, that is not fair. In school, in army or in certain big organisation, there is always a declare, “Are you mentally ill? Do you have a mental problem?” Why is that in the form? It should be out. (Male, 62 years, Caregiver FGD 1)

I hope like whenever you’re applying for a job then you do not need to tick off the, “Do you have a mental illness?” that... that column. But maybe being open about it and talk about it would make the person understand in your shoes (Female, 25 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 6)

3.4.2. Policies That Encourage Employers to Hire and Support PWLE in Workplaces

Although the participants called for the removal of mental illness declarations on application forms, they preferred to be truthful about their condition, as they feared being discovered if they had lied to increase their chances of employment. They also found that concealing their condition and their medical appointments was burdensome. The PWLE suggested that apart from raising awareness among employers, governmental support could be given to encourage employers to hire individuals with known mental health conditions.

The government could perhaps encourage their employers to take on mental patients who are willing to disclose their conditions of their job contracts. I stay in (name of a sheltered home) and the practice of their employment specialist is to have a very honest declaration. Just help… just say we have, this person who is going to help work has a mental condition. So they say that is why I follow them because they do it on a clean cut basis but I feel very upset because I follow suit, I declare my condition, and I loss so many chances of being employed. So government can do, I think government has yet to, have a lot to do. (Female, 55 years, Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE FGD 3)

In line with my unemployment, no money, and at the same time, I feel like I can contribute la to the greater society, ah you know what I’m saying? So that maybe in the future, people will say okay never mind you can work but then like you know, every year got psychiatric evaluation you know that’s even better, you know. A company that’s accepting of your condition. (Male, 24 years, Mood disorder, PWLE FGD 6)

Lastly, several participants shared being caught in awkward situations upon disclosure and the found reactions by their superiors inappropriate. Thus, they suggested that guidelines can be put in place to inform employers on how to respond sensitively to those who choose to disclose.

Maybe you can suggest to MOM [Ministry of Manpower] to remove the questions about health conditions. Have some regulations or advice to employers about how they can react to people who declare or maybe even take it out from the application form. For example, in the US [United States], you’re not actually, it’s kind of discriminatory, you’re not allowed to. It’s against the law to discriminate people based on their orientation or whatever, their conditions. So maybe in Singapore, we can move ahead in that regard. (Male, 28 years, -Psychosis-related disorder, PWLE FGD 5)

4. Discussion

The suggestions by the PWLE and caregivers in tackling stigma can be classified broadly as raising awareness through education, social contact, advocacy, and legislative reform. These strategies are in line with the approaches that have been used internationally to disrupt the process of stigma. Corrigan et al. [ 47 ] have suggested three approaches: education, protest, and contact, while Arboleda-Florez and Stuart [ 22 ] extended Corrigan’s typography with three additional strategies: legislative reform, advocacy, and stigma self-management. Our study has further identified nuanced details on how this can be carried out in the Singapore landscape.

Raising awareness through public education was the most suggested strategy. It is appealing, as it targets lack of awareness and misinformation with the provision of information. Young people in particular were identified as a target group for educational intervention due to the burgeoning pressure they face, the potential they have in changing the future, and the opportunities that school settings have to deliver interventions using a literacy approach, points that have also been described previously [ 48 , 49 ] in the literature. School-friendly literacy approaches have been shown to be effective in improving knowledge about mental health conditions [ 50 ].

The participants suggested various ways of raising awareness for the general population and drew particular attention to the potential problems of media strategies due to their tendency towards presenting stories in a sensational manner. Gottipatti et al. [ 51 ] explored local media portrayals of people with mental disorders in Singapore’s largest media organisations, Singapore Press Holdings and MediaCorp, and reported that mental health-related articles in Singapore were primarily negative in sentiment, with crime-related news accounting for 40% of the corpus. Moreover, mental health experts had unwittingly used stigmatising terms in interviews. The authors suggested that media professionals and editors can also be enlisted to play a more proactive gatekeeping role and to counteract the largely negative portrayal of mental illness by providing articles on well-being and recovery. They also proposed a rule-based solution model based on text mining and natural language processing (NLP) techniques that can automatically identify aspects of stigma in media articles for editing before publication [ 51 ]. Similarly, Stout, Villeges, and Jennings [ 52 ] suggested for informational and educational activities to be arranged for journalists that teach techniques to report on mental health stories in a balanced and responsible way. Other strategies that have been used include SANE Australia’s (a charitable advocacy group) StigmaWatch program, which monitors and responds to the inaccurate or inappropriate media portrayal of mental illness. If problematic reporting is not remedied, then the group may consider taking public action [ 35 ].

The participants also cautioned that messaging should not result in benevolent stigma—an unintended consequence of well-intentioned approaches, where people with mental illness are treated as being unable to competently handle life’s demands and need a benevolent authority to make decisions for them [ 30 ]. This kind of messaging is stigmatizing, as is perpetuates power imbalances by appealing to the public to do good for a seemingly weak, pitiful subordinate group [ 53 ]. Such a response disempowers people with mental health conditions and stunts opportunities for personal growth. The participants in our study, as Corrigan had pointed out, wished for empathy cultivation leading to being treated with parity rather than pity. They also cautioned that efforts at normalising mental illness should not result in the trivialisation of the disorder. Research has suggested that those who accept their mental illness as part of their identity, overcome the challenges of stigma, and who remain resilient, may feel a sense of pride in being able to do so [ 30 ]. Thus, symptoms that are “undeserving” of the diagnosis may be viewed as discrediting their strength and authenticity.

The second theme that the participants identified was an opportunity for members of the general public to have social contact with a PWLE. They believed that many members of the public had never had personal interactions with a person with mental illness and formed attitudes towards people with mental health conditions based on stereotypes. In line with Allport’s [ 54 ] intergroup contact strategy, they proposed that personal contact with individuals with mental health conditions would reduce prejudice towards them. Purely naturalistic contact in everyday settings, however, does not reduce stigma [ 55 ], as high rates of stigma persist amongst mental health service staff who are in contact with individuals with mental health conditions on a daily basis [ 56 ]. Effective contact-based strategies are planned interactions with certain conditions in place. Some of these conditions relate to the credibility of the speaker, the local relevance to the audience, the disclosure of personal struggles due to the illness and “on the way up stories” describing successes in areas of living independently, employment and in having quality relationships [ 21 , 25 , 31 , 57 ] A local study examining the impact of a combined education and face-to-face contact intervention with university students showed that the intervention significantly improved stigma, reduced the desire for social distancing, and improved attitudes towards help-seeking [ 32 , 33 , 58 ]. However, the effects of this intervention was short-term, highlighting our participants’ assertion as well as supporting literature that stigma-reduction efforts should be continuous [ 57 ].

While such planned interactions can be logistically challenging and encumber continuity of exposure, the evidence suggests that non-face-to-face contact can also deliver notable results [ 59 ]. Schiappa et al.’s [ 60 ] “parasocial contact theory”, which was built upon Allport’s hypothesis proposes that sustained mass-mediated contact with a media figure engenders a parasocial relationship where the viewer feels a real, emotional connection with the figure that is akin to that with a close friend. Thus, the revelation of a stigmatised identity from the celebrity with whom a parasocial bond already exists has a greater potential to reduce stigma than an encounter with someone new who reveals the same stigmatised identity [ 61 ]. Indeed, an experimental study among undergraduate students showed that exposure to a video of popular pop singer, Demi Lovato, disclosing her experience with bipolar disorder (BD) significantly reduced negative stereotypes towards BD, and the higher the level of parasocial relationship, the lower their negative stereotypes of people with BD were [ 59 ]. There is also potential for repeated exposure to mass-mediated content to effect long-term change, as demonstrated in a longitudinal study in which college students who were presented with filmed social contact every 2 months over a 12-month period showed significantly positive long-term outcomes (24 months follow-up) in terms of their behavioural intentions for social contact with PWLE compared to the control groups [ 62 ]. Participants highlighted that this approach could serve well in a society such as Singapore, which has a celebrity culture.

The third and fourth themes relate to advocacy by influential figures/groups and the legislation of anti-discriminatory laws. Legislative reform is designed to prohibit discrimination on any grounds, improve the protection of people with mental illness, and offer reasonable accommodations in areas such as employment, education, and housing. Advocacy is designed to ensure that people with mental illness enjoy the rights and freedom offered by legislation and provide avenues of redress for inequitable policies and procedures [ 22 ]. Discussions among participants on these themes highlighted the importance of governmental organisations, grassroots leaders, and other public figures who carry the clout to push for changes in policy and practices to create an environment that is more inclusive and supportive of people with mental health conditions. They argued that mental health experts are not the best people for this task, alluding to the fact that it could be perceived as an act of self-interest to promote the importance of their profession—a point also identified by Clement et al. [ 63 ]. Corrigan [ 30 ] contrasted the service agenda in targeting stigma with the rights agenda, where the former is aimed at removing barriers to professional care, while the latter replaces disenfranchisement with affirming attitudes and behaviours. These agendas, which have different purposes and processes, may compete, and choices need to be made in allocating resources to work towards the chosen endpoint [ 30 ].

The participants in the study commented that mental health awareness has increased in Singapore in the past couple of years, but these advancements have not caught on as quickly, particularly in workplaces. A significant proportion of PWLE remain unemployed despite their desire and ability to work [ 64 ]. At the time when the data were collected, mental illness declarations were still a part of job application processes. In the FGDs, the participants zealously urged for this practice to be put to an end, as it impeded their employability and career ambitions. Further to the removal of this declaration, they suggested that support schemes should be offered to employers for hiring people with mental illnesses. A systematic review of anti-stigma interventions in workplaces showed that targeted interventions could lead to improved employee knowledge and supportive behaviour towards people with mental health problems [ 65 ]. However, due to the methodological shortcomings of the included studies, the heterogeneity of the intervention content and other issues, no efficacious intervention element could be identified. The current evidence suggests that specific workplace messages are more influential than more general workplace messages, and these messages should also be tailored for different stakeholders within the workplace (e.g., supervisors vs. employees) [ 66 ]. Corrigan recommended that identifying specific stigma change goals can be undertaken through a needs assessment conducted together with the target group [ 67 ]. One component of stigma change identified in this study was the inclusion of practice guidelines on responding to disclosure appropriately, fairly, and sensitively in workplaces.

Several mental illness de-stigmatisation endeavours, some of which have incorporated the suggestions identified in this research, have occurred in Singapore. First, Singapore launched its first long-running anti-stigma campaign called Beyond the Label in September 2018, with PWLE fronting the campaign and a strong social media presence. In January 2019, the first insurance policy that covers common mental illnesses, the AIA Beyond Critical Care, was launched by AIA Singapore. In December of the same year, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices declared that asking job applicants about their mental health condition without good reason was discriminatory and that employers who do not abide by the updated guidelines may be liable to enforcement actions. As one of the PWLE in our FGD summarised,

“It’s moving, it’s slow…but it is gaining momentum…This is the best time for the mentally ill. People are more able to speak up for themselves even as patients and that is a wonderful thing”.

There are a few limitations to this study. First, the participants were recruited on a voluntary basis. Thus, the findings may not reflect the broader views of PWLE and caregivers. Two FGDs had only four and five participants, which may have made the dynamics of that group different from the larger-sized ones although the analyses did not suggest any specific themes coming up or being omitted in those FGDs. Second, as the researchers were from the IMH, participants have may withheld their critical views of the mental health system and suggestions to improve it, as it was possible that they did not want to offend the researchers affiliated with the institution. Third, the data were analysed from the lens of the researchers—the PWLE and caregivers were not part of the team analysing the data.

Notwithstanding these limitations, this study is one of a few studies in Singapore to have obtained inputs on stigma reduction from the perspectives of those who have been stigmatised. While several positive steps have been taken towards de-stigmatisation, evaluation efforts for these initiatives are currently lacking. It is recommended that scientifically rigorous evaluations of these efforts be undertaken so that outcomes can be tested, and the initiatives can be continually improved. Further, PWLE should be included in future anti-stigma research as well as in the evaluation of these campaigns and programmes.

5. Conclusions

The PWLE and caregivers highlighted that careful deliberation is needed when crafting messages to raise awareness about mental illnesses to avoid the unintended effects of trivialisation of these illnesses and the generation of sympathy. The research also identified how individuals such as community leaders and media figures are in advantageous positions to reduce stigma and advocate for better support for people with mental health conditions. The continued evaluation of new anti-stigma strategies is important to informing the impact of these efforts as well as to fine-tune future initiatives.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants for sharing their perspectives and making this work possible.

Author Contributions

Project administration, investigation, formal analysis, writing—original draft: S.S.; project administration, investigation, formal analysis, writing—review and editing: C.M.J.G.; investigation; formal analysis, writing—review and editing: G.T.H.T.; investigation, formal analysis, writing—review and editing: W.J.O.; funding acquisition, conceptualization, writing—review and editing: S.A.C.; conceptualization, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, supervision, writing—review and editing: M.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

The study was supported by Tote Board (Singapore) under the Tote Board Strategic Initiative on Mental Health. The funding body of the study had no involvement with the design of the study, collection, data analysis and interpretation, or in the writing of manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by National Healthcare Group Domain Specific Review Board (DSRB Reference No. 2017/01175).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Talking about personal struggle with health conditions/diseases in college essays

Not exactly sure where to post this, but I feel here is sufficient.

I have looked at a lot of threads on CC and what brought me to making this thread was a recent thread about what to write your college essays on when you are a privileged individual (link: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1717301-how-does-a-privileged-person-write-a-college-essay-what-did-you-write-about-p1.html )

I have seen many people talk about either their experiences with school clubs, their fundraising efforts, any relationship troubles at home with parents, trips to 3rd world countries (a few people), and other somewhat ordinary stuff which shows both their personality and perspective and all of that is good, but I haven’t seen many people talking/writing specifically about having a disease (a few common ones such as maybe stage 1 cancer/diabetes/forms of leukemia and there are many more conditions which are lesser known & more/less impacting on one’s life) and talking about their experiences sometimes from a young age growing up and dealing with these health problems. What comes to mind is if you have had a disease since a young age you have had to deal with much more mature experiences (multiple hospital visits, blood tests, MRIs and medication, negative impacts on all aspects of your life such as social or physical limitations) and that it provides a really good basis for your college essay when strictly looking through the window of getting in or not.

I was just curious as to anyone who talked about similar experiences or health struggles they have to overcome in their application essays for college or for other programs. This subject might be a bit more private/taboo than other examples listed above (key club/nhs/math competitions and honor society experiences and many other things) but I wanted your guys’s input.

Bump for interest. Specifically, I have an inexplicable gap semester, and I had to take it for health reasons, but I’m not sure what all I is a good idea to disclose. Do I tell them the absolute honest truth about what happened, or do I leave it incredibly vague so that there’s no prejudice from the committee about “serious medical situation requiring missed semester”?

I would go for an essay about your health struggles if you think that you can write a strong one. It definitely sounds like it has been a huge part of your life and would stand out a lot more than an essay about NHS or volunteering abroad. Just make sure you focus more on how you have grown/matured rather than the disease itself (you don’t want to make it seem like a pity party). I’m sure you have lots of interesting things to say.

On a related note, I remember reading an essay someone wrote about pizza and PKU that I loved. It connected her thoughts about her disorder to what she’s doing today (I think she mentioned doing research) while maintaining a light, humourous tone.

It may be a good indicator of your background if maintaining health / dealing with illness was a major part of your life, or if you’re using that experience to show discipline (through nutrition, physical therapy, ADHD), a catalyst to discovering a new passion (you couldn’t play basketball, so you joined theater), courage (being on the debate team despite a speech impediment), or a budding interest in medicine.

However, I think it’s difficult to write a sincere illness essay, since most of the time, you’re either too young to know what’s going on, or you don’t have the superhuman resilience you want to put in an essay. Most of the time, when you’re chronically ill, you either suffer through it in a way that’s not very flattering to write about, or just integrate whatever health regimen into your daily life. And then if it doesn’t have that much negative impact on your life, then does it still fall in the realm of “ordinary stuff.”

And then there’s the potential risk of revealing a health condition that could pop up again and cause you to have to leave school frequently / perform poorly. That being said, I have read many essays about sports injuries, speech impediments, ADHD, and obesity in regular essays, and some brain injury, car accident injury, sustaining some weird illness/issue due to young-child-stupidity (e.g. swallowed a marble), and congenital conditions for doctor essays. I also hear many more people write about family members or friends from all over the board (Alzheimer’s, suicide attempts, heart attack, death) so they can show how they handle a situation deftly or are a good caretaker / friend.

I’ve also heard of the rare few people who can bring up a mental illness and handle it skillfully enough to get accepted. That has not been my experience; then again, choosing to write about an eating disorder for Ivies, which were already super-reaches, was not the wisest decision I’ve made… So @cameraphone‌ it really depends, but I would be reluctant to mention something that could lead to stigma.

I agree with @OnMyWay2013 ; mentioning mental illness can definitely make people think you’re fragile or incompetent. Or they just plain don’t want to deal with it. For a more tame example, I entered an essay contest at my university with a (well-written, I thought) essay about depression. Didn’t place.

I can understand your desire to address it because, just like with a gap in employment, college admissions folks may wonder. Here’s my thought: if you can point it out, use large brush strokes to explain that you were ill, and then focus on [paragraph 1] [paragragh 2] and [paragraph 3] on how it changed you (for the better)/learned from it. My son wrote an essay about moving around several times, including once in high school, but the positives he had to say about it brought tears to my eyes. Good luck in whatever you decide!

I gotcha thanks guys for all the replies. Yeah I guess writing an essay regarding your health struggles is very dependent on what exactly you write about as it can work and not work in your favor, although it can work for you if you make it both mature and well-written i suppose.

you know i wonder if there are a few essays talking about what @OnMyWay2013‌ was mentioning earlier along with others (speech impediments and food eating disorders to depression or life-endangering genetic diseases stuff and more severe stuff alike)…from the strict standpoint of getting into the college and assuming they are all written of equal level…do you guys think a college ad com might sway more towards the applicant who has dealt with more severe issues?

Not necessarily. I think adcoms will read many “sob story” essays that follow the same narrative of painting a picture of tragedy, then dramatically explaining how you rose above it. Taking a unique angle will make the writer stand out more, and this can be done regardless of the severity of illness, or even with any topic at all. That being said, if somebody was able to go through leukemia treatments and, let’s say, be valedictorian despite missing half the year, start a support group at her hospital, etc., that’s worth mentioning because those are more impressive accomplishments given the circumstances. But then again, the more “severe” the issue, the harder such accomplishments are to attain.

Adcoms lean toward more severe issues ?? No. That would be more for, say, medical research.

Remember you’re writing this as part of a college app. Rather than how disabling or debilitating this is/was, you want Adcoms to see how you succeeded despite-- and will be a great member of their community. And also remember it’s not just telling them. You need to show it.

D wrote about overcoming health issues associated with being born terribly premature. I think it’s fine to talk about a medical condition unless it’s one that might cause a college to have concerns about admitting you

if your main concern is explaining the gap year, you can ask your guidance counselor to address that in his or her letter (but also with a positive spin, such as “Despite the fact that…”). And then you can address a topic that you might be more eager to write about in your essay. At least thats my thought, but I’m just a parent, not an admissions professional.

i gotcha guys thanks for the info and replies. yeah i feel what you’re saying onmyway it will really benefit you if you show through examples like you said of how you overcame it but just talking about it i guess there would be quite a few applicatants just talking about something they “overcame” but not really showing through real life examples the significance and whatnot of it you know what im saying

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• Essay Editor

Mental Health Essay

Revolutionize your writing process: our AI rewrite tool is here to help

Introduction

Mental health, often overshadowed by its physical counterpart, is an intricate and essential aspect of human existence. It envelops our emotions, psychological state, and social well-being, shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and interactions. With the complexities of modern life—constant connectivity, societal pressures, personal expectations, and the frenzied pace of technological advancements—mental well-being has become increasingly paramount. Historically, conversations around this topic have been hushed, shrouded in stigma and misunderstanding. However, as the curtains of misconception slowly lift, we find ourselves in an era where discussions about mental health are not only welcomed but are also seen as vital. Recognizing and addressing the nuances of our mental state is not merely about managing disorders; it's about understanding the essence of who we are, how we process the world around us, and how we navigate the myriad challenges thrown our way. This essay aims to delve deep into the realm of mental health, shedding light on its importance, the potential consequences of neglect, and the spectrum of mental disorders that many face in silence.

Importance of Mental Health

Mental health plays a pivotal role in determining how individuals think, feel, and act. It influences our decision-making processes, stress management techniques, interpersonal relationships, and even our physical health. A well-tuned mental state boosts productivity, creativity, and the intrinsic sense of self-worth, laying the groundwork for a fulfilling life.

Negative Impact of Mental Health

Neglecting mental health, on the other hand, can lead to severe consequences. Reduced productivity, strained relationships, substance abuse, physical health issues like heart diseases, and even reduced life expectancy are just some of the repercussions of poor mental health. It not only affects the individual in question but also has a ripple effect on their community, workplace, and family.

Mental Disorders: Types and Prevalence

Mental disorders are varied and can range from anxiety and mood disorders like depression and bipolar disorder to more severe conditions such as schizophrenia.

• Depression: Characterized by persistent sadness, lack of interest in activities, and fatigue.
• Anxiety Disorders: Encompass conditions like generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and specific phobias.
• Schizophrenia: A complex disorder affecting a person's ability to think, feel, and behave clearly.

The prevalence of these disorders has been on the rise, underscoring the need for comprehensive mental health initiatives and awareness campaigns.

Understanding Mental Health and Its Importance

Mental health is not merely the absence of disorders but encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Recognizing the signs of deteriorating mental health, like prolonged sadness, extreme mood fluctuations, or social withdrawal, is crucial. Understanding stems from awareness and education. Societal stigmas surrounding mental health have often deterred individuals from seeking help. Breaking these barriers, fostering open conversations, and ensuring access to mental health care are imperative steps.

Conclusion: Mental Health

Mental health, undeniably, is as significant as physical health, if not more. In an era where the stressors are myriad, from societal pressures to personal challenges, mental resilience and well-being are essential. Investing time and resources into mental health initiatives, and more importantly, nurturing a society that understands, respects, and prioritizes mental health is the need of the hour.

• World Leaders: Several influential personalities, from celebrities to sports stars, have openly discussed their mental health challenges, shedding light on the universality of these issues and the importance of addressing them.
• Workplaces: Progressive organizations are now incorporating mental health programs, recognizing the tangible benefits of a mentally healthy workforce, from increased productivity to enhanced creativity.
• Educational Institutions: Schools and colleges, witnessing the effects of stress and other mental health issues on students, are increasingly integrating counseling services and mental health education in their curriculum.

In weaving through the intricate tapestry of mental health, it becomes evident that it's an area that requires collective attention, understanding, and action.

  Short Essay about Mental Health

Mental health, an integral facet of human well-being, shapes our emotions, decisions, and daily interactions. Just as one would care for a sprained ankle or a fever, our minds too require attention and nurture. In today's bustling world, mental well-being is often put on the back burner, overshadowed by the immediate demands of life. Yet, its impact is pervasive, influencing our productivity, relationships, and overall quality of life.

Sadly, mental health issues have long been stigmatized, seen as a sign of weakness or dismissed as mere mood swings. However, they are as real and significant as any physical ailment. From anxiety to depression, these disorders have touched countless lives, often in silence due to societal taboos.

But change is on the horizon. As awareness grows, conversations are shifting from hushed whispers to open discussions, fostering understanding and support. Institutions, workplaces, and communities are increasingly acknowledging the importance of mental health, implementing programs, and offering resources.

In conclusion, mental health is not a peripheral concern but a central one, crucial to our holistic well-being. It's high time we prioritize it, eliminating stigma and fostering an environment where everyone feels supported in their mental health journey.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the primary focus of a mental health essay?

Answer: The primary focus of a mental health essay is to delve into the intricacies of mental well-being, its significance in our daily lives, the various challenges people face, and the broader societal implications. It aims to shed light on both the psychological and emotional aspects of mental health, often emphasizing the importance of understanding, empathy, and proactive care.

• How can writing an essay on mental health help raise awareness about its importance?

Answer: Writing an essay on mental health can effectively articulate the nuances and complexities of the topic, making it more accessible to a wider audience. By presenting facts, personal anecdotes, and research, the essay can demystify misconceptions, highlight the prevalence of mental health issues, and underscore the need for destigmatizing discussions around it. An impactful essay can ignite conversations, inspire action, and contribute to a more informed and empathetic society.

• What are some common topics covered in a mental health essay?

Answer: Common topics in a mental health essay might include the definition and importance of mental health, the connection between mental and physical well-being, various mental disorders and their symptoms, societal stigmas and misconceptions, the impact of modern life on mental health, and the significance of therapy and counseling. It may also delve into personal experiences, case studies, and the broader societal implications of neglecting mental health.

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• Companies & Schools

Should you discuss mental health issues in your college essay?

by Erica L. Meltzer | Oct 20, 2018 | Blog , College Essays | 6 comments

Image ©Nickshot, Adobe Stock

Note, January 2022: This post was written in 2018, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Obviously, many things have changed since then, not least the amount of psychological pressure that many high school students have experienced. Clearly, some of the boundaries and expectations surrounding acceptable/advisable topics for admissions essays have shifted, and applicants undoubtedly have more leeway in discussing mental-health issues than they did in the past. That said, I would still caution against making this subject the exclusive focus of your essay(s). If it happens to be relevant—and it very well might be, given the events of the last couple of years— then you should focus on discussing it in a mature way that conveys qualities such as empathy and resilience, and that demonstrates your ability to reflect insightfully on what may have been very difficult situations.  

As regular readers of my blog may know, I periodically trawl the forums over at College Confidential to see what’s trending. Recently, I’ve noticed a concerning uptick in the number of students asking whether it’s appropriate for them to write about mental health issues, most frequently ADD and/or anxiety, in their college applications.

So the short answer: don’t do it.

The slightly longer version:

If you’re concerned about a drop in grades or an inconsistent transcript, talk to your guidance counselor. If these types of issues are addressed, the GC’s letter is the most appropriate place for them. If, for any reason, the GC is unable/unwilling to discuss them and the issues had a significant impact on your performance in school that unequivocally requires explanation, you can put a brief, matter of fact note in the “is there any additional information you’d like us to know?” section, but think very carefully about how you present it. Do not write your main essay about the issue.

The full version:

To understand why these topics should generally be avoided, you need to understand what information colleges are actually seeking to gain from the personal statement. Although it is technically a personal narrative, it is, in a sense, also a persuasive essay: its purpose is to convey what sets you apart from the thousands of others with equally good grades and scores, and to suggest whether you have qualities that make you more likely to thrive at university x than the other 10 or 15 or even 20 applicants clamoring for that spot.

Now, whether such thing can actually be determined from 650 words (with which some students receive significant help) is of course questionable; however, the bottom line is that, adcoms are looking for students who will be successful in college. Discussing one’s inability to focus or intense aversion to social situations does not exactly inspire confidence, even if a student insists those problems have been overcome. Leaving home, dealing with professors and roommates and more challenging classes… Those are all major stressors. There is a tacit understanding that of course some students will flame out, have breakdowns, etc., but adcoms are understandably hesitant to admit anyone who is already at a higher risk for those issues. You want them to be excited about the prospect of admitting you, not debate whether you’ll really be able to handle college. (In fact, I had multiple students with various issues who were not truly ready for college and who did flame out — colleges have good reason to take these things seriously.)

This concern goes beyond any particular student’s well-being: graduation rates get factored into rankings, and every student who doesn’t make it through drags that statistic just a little bit lower. If a student does develop serious problems while on campus, there are also potential legal/liability issues involved, and no school wants to deliberately court those.

Besides, if your grades are iffy, it is extremely difficult not to sound as if you are making excuses. You are much better off talking about an experience or interest that will make them look past the transcript and think, “Hey, I really like this kid.” And the reality is that if your grades are that iffy, you’re probably not a competitive candidate at super-selective colleges anyway. These schools are looking for applicants who are on the way to fulfilling their potential, not for ones who need to explain away chronic underachievement.

In addition, one thing applicants — and sometimes their parents — have difficulty wrapping their heads around is the sheer number of applications the average admissions officer has encountered. Situations that may seem extreme and dramatic to adolescents who have recently confronted them may in fact have already been experienced — and written about — by thousands of other applicants. A 17-year old may believe that describing their anxiety in morbid detail will make them seem complex and introspective, but more likely it will only come off as overwrought and trite.

I know that might sound harsh, but please remember that admissions officers are coming at this process with no pre-existing knowledge of you as a person, only a few minutes to spend on your essay, and hundreds of other applications to get through. They are also under intense pressure to ensure that the appropriate demographics targets are being met and all the various institutional constituencies (coaches, development office, orchestra conductor) are being satisfied. They’re not ogres, and they’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt, but if yours is the fifth essay about overcoming anxiety they’ve seen in the last 48 hours, they will look at it and reflexively think, “oh, another one of these.” That is not a first impression you want to make.

Now, are there exceptions? Yes, of course, but they are rare. In all the time I did college admissions work, I had exactly one student successfully discuss anxiety in an essay. It was, however, introduced in the context of a family tragedy that had profoundly shaped the student’s life; given that background, the discussion seemed natural and matter of fact rather than overdramatized. Even so, I made the student take a good week to think about whether that topic was truly the one they wanted to write about.

Ultimately, of course, the decision is yours, and the choice depends on the larger story you want to tell as well as your ability as a writer, but these topics are so difficult to pull off well that you are best off avoiding them if you can (particularly if you don’t have access to someone with a lot of admissions experience who can review your essay). Find another topic/ experience that you enjoy writing about (and that others are likely to enjoy reading about); that presents you as someone interesting and thoughtful; and that suggest you are ready to thrive in college.

If you really are concerned about your ability to function in college, most schools have plenty of resources for you to take advantage of (academic support, counseling center, etc.). But those are things to investigate after you get admitted. Before that, don’t go out of your way to fly red flags where none are warranted.

Why is Dyslexia ok to mention on an essay, but overcoming selective mutism is not?

Dyslexia is a learning disability that lends itself to proof that it has been overcome through excellent scores in reading and writing. It’s not easy to overcome or cope with dyslexia so an essay showing how a student did it demonstrates their tenacity and resourcefulness. Grades and scores are proof that the dyslexia will not be a problem in college, while the essay can highlight the characteristics that led to the student’s success and which will serve them well in college.

I wrote about how my dog helped me overcome me ending my life/depression and moving to another school is that too common

Thanks for the tips and perspective. It seems like common sense to me as a parent and tutor, but now I have an “established author” to cite!

I want to write about how depression had change me. But my grades and statistics are all great. Is this okay to write? My bad mental health somehow didn’t manage to get to the others parts of my life.

Is it okay to write about how despite psychosis I could manage to get good grades?

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A Helping Hand: An Essay On The Importance Of Mental Health Parity

By: Sydney Waltner

More than half of all Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness in their lifetime. But not everyone will receive the help they need. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, only forty percent of adults and fifty percent of youth receive the medical help they need. Even though mental illness is common and can affect anyone, there is still a great stigma attached. This stigma creates reluctance and shame in seeking help.  The acceptance and understanding of mental illnesses has come a far way from where it used to be, but improvements can, and should still be made. 

Mental illnesses should not be thought of any differently from physical illnesses. In fact, I believe the two are inseparable. Because the whole body is connected and interwoven, the two cannot be separated. The brain is an organ just like everything else in the body and can be hurt like everything else. When the brain is ill, it is not isolated in just the brain, but instead affects the whole body and the overall wellness. Substance abuse, self-harm, and suicide are very common and dangerous in those with mental illnesses. The stigma surrounding mental illness keeps people from getting the help they need to get better and causes them to hide their pain.   

For three years I was one of those people hiding my illness. I was quietly suffering from depression and an eating disorder. My whole day revolved around my eating disorder and hiding it from everyone. This caused a lot of sadness, anger, and loneliness. I not only hid it from others, but I also tried to hide it from myself. I tried to convince myself that nothing was wrong because I did not fully understand what was happening.  I did not know what was making me hurt myself and why I could not stop. As my weight was decreasing, my sadness and anger were quickly increasing. I became so mad and upset at everyone and everything. The stress and pressure of holding everything in caused me so much misery. If something small happened, it became too much to handle and I had to release it somehow. The only way I could think of to handle this was to hit myself and other things until I forgot about all my pain. By this time, it was impossible to hide my illness, and my family finally found out my deep secret.  They did not want to see me suffer like that and wanted to help. They tried their hardest to help, but they just did not know how to help me. They tried to get me to go see somebody and get help, but I refused. I was scared of admitting that I had a mental illness and that I needed help. I was worried that people would judge me, treat me differently, or even bully me if they found out about my mental illness. So, I refused to get any help.  I insisted that I was okay and could fix it myself. After a while of getting worse, my parents made me an appointment and told me I was going to get help. I remember crying and begging my mother to not make me go, but she did, and I am so grateful to her now.

For almost a year now I have been going to see a mental health counselor once a week. It took me a while to open up to her and tell her how I felt. But when I realized she was there for me and did not judge me, I was finally able to let her help me. Looking back now, I cannot believe how sick and miserable I was. I cannot imagine how my life would be if I had not received her help. I cannot express how grateful I am to her. She has changed my life for the better, I am so much happier and healthier now and look forward to living. 

Receiving help is the most important thing anyone can do for themselves. But unfortunately, the stigma keeps people from getting help.  Mental illness should not be something to be ashamed about or thought of differently. When mental illness is treated equally to other illnesses, more people will have the courage to get help and better their lives.

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17 Inspiring Health Stories That Made The World Seem A Little Less Terrible

A lot of things in 2018 were terrible. These inspiring health-related stories are not.

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Certain stories made us feel pretty good this year.

Some stories were about children or adults who overcame cancer or physical or mental illness, who are now living their best life despite these challenges.

Others were about people who had a birth or breastfeeding experience that we found pretty inspiring.

The world is a difficult place to be in sometimes. These were some inspiring stories of people who faced health problems or challenges, had a cool life experience, or underwent groundbreaking surgery, which made us feel a little bit better about being in this world.

1. Batkid was declared cancer-free.

Miles Scott stole everyone's heart as a 5-year-old leukemia patient who took over San Francisco in 2013 as Batkid after he told the Make-A-Wish Foundation that he wanted to be Batman . People crowded the streets to cheer him on after San Francisco was turned into Gotham for a day with the help of late mayor Ed Lee and 20,000 volunteers. This year, the foundation announced that Miles, now 10, has been in remission for five years. This is an important milestone when many people can be considered as likely to be cancer-free.

2. This nurse realized that the last time she met her new coworker doctor was when she cared for him years ago as a preemie.

Brandon Seminatore is a pediatric resident in California and ended up working at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, the same hospital where he was born decades earlier.

A preemie (he was born at 29 weeks of gestation, while a full-term pregnancy is around 40 weeks), he spent more than a month in the neonatal intensive care unit.

A nurse named Vilma Wong, who had worked at the hospital for 32 years, thought his name sounded familiar.

“To confirm, I asked him if his dad was a police officer, and there was a big silence. And then he asked me if I was Vilma. I said yes,” Wong said.

Seminatore was impressed with Wong's dedication and love for her patients, so much so that she remembered the family decades later. They both hope their story lifts up parents who are undergoing a difficult time and have babies in a newborn intensive care unit.

3. This little girl with big, beautiful eyes.

Mehlani lives in Minnesota, and her mom, Karina Martinez, is often stopped by strangers who comment on the toddler's big, beautiful eyes . The little girl has Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome , a genetic condition that can cause eye abnormalities and increase the risk of glaucoma, a sight-robbing condition.

Martinez tweeted about her daughter's condition this year, and the tweets went viral. After that, parents of other children with the condition reached out to her, which has been helpful.

"People are super nice and just letting me know if I had any questions I could ask them," she told BuzzFeed News.

4. This woman walked with the help of an epidural stimulator implanted in her spine.

This year was an exciting one when it came to research into treatments for spinal cord injuries that have caused complete paralysis from the chest or waist down. Once told there was no hope they could ever walk again, a handful of paralyzed patients had a treatment — an epidural stimulator implanted in the spine — that seemed to offer a more hopeful prognosis, as reported by at least three separate research teams.

After months of arduous training after the epidural stimulators were put into place, the patients have been able to recover at least some ability to take steps — and, in one woman's case, actually use a walker instead of a wheelchair, at least some of the time while at home.

Kelly Thomas of Citrus County, Florida, had the implant and training, and can now switch on the device and use a walker to stand and take steps around her home.

“I don’t want people to think you just turn it on and you are good to go — that’s not the case. It takes hours and hours and hours of dedication,” she told BuzzFeed News. “It’s not for the faint of heart … There are days you just want to cry and quit.”

The research teams working on this include the Kentucky Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Louisville , which pioneered the technique; a team at University of California Los Angeles and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as well as one at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland.

5. This little girl taught the world about a rare genetic syndrome.

Taylor McGowan was born with uncombable hair syndrome , and that's a real and very rare genetic condition.

She has two copies of a gene — one inherited from each parent — that changes the shape of the hair shaft and causes fine hair that often stands up straight around her head. Her parents sent blood samples to Regina Betz at the University of Bonn, who has published research on the condition, which is also called "spun glass hair syndrome ."

Taylor definitely has the condition, and her parents are carriers. Some people have pointed and laughed at Taylor's hair, her mom, Cara McGowan, told BuzzFeed News. The family is hoping to raise awareness of the condition, and encourage more tolerance of unique characteristics in general, she said.

6. This woman embraced her body, which at one point in her life was a source of depression.

Lorena Bolaños was born with a large congenital nevus , a mole that covers a large portion of her body. As a child, classmates made fun of her and adults thought it was an illness that could make other people sick.

Bolaños had a photo shoot as part of Underneath We Are Women , a project that showcases women of all body types.

"My objective is that everybody needs to understand that self-acceptance is the first step to achieve happiness," Bolaños told BuzzFeed News.

7. This mom discovered her baby had Down syndrome during an emotional water birth.

Amber Rojas said that she knew almost right away that her baby, a little girl named Amadeus Reign Rojas (or Ami as her family calls her), had Down syndrome. The entire family, including Amber's husband Fernando and the couple's four other children, were present during the moving water birth , along with their birth photographer.

Ami was also born with a heart defect that is common in children with Down syndrome, but after a challenging start with heart surgery and a respiratory infection that landed her in the hospital, Ami is doing well. (Follow her on Instagram to see how Ami is doing.)

8. An unidentified veteran had the first penis and scrotum transplant.

This year, an unidentified US veteran, who was injured in Afghanistan, underwent the world's first penis and scrotum transplant .

Although there have been at least three penis transplants, this was the first to use so much tissue and to include the scrotum, according to the team that performed the transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

9. This mom saw her baby being born through a clear plastic drape during a cesarean section.

Allison and Brent live in Madison, Alabama, and found out during the 20th week of pregnancy that Alison had placenta previa. That's a condition where the placenta covers the opening of the cervix, increasing the risk of bleeding or rupture of the placenta during labor.

They knew that Alison needed to have a cesarean section, but the couple wanted to have a "gentle cesarean" or "family-centered cesarean" if possible. That's an approach that incorporates as many elements of a vaginal birth — like seeing the baby as soon as it's born — into a cesarean birth as possible.

So they requested using a clear drape during the delivery , a method in which the surgical drape is lowered just before the baby is born, so the parents can witness the birth.

Because of the angle of the drapes, if you are giving birth you can't really see the surgical incision. "It’s not a gory thing," Allison told BuzzFeed News. "You don’t actually watch the procedure or them do the incision."

They had a baby boy via cesarean section March 2. "All you see is your baby," said Allison. "It's pretty special."

10. A little girl born without legs was a true "warrior queen" in this photo shoot.

La'Mareea Waddell was born with caudal regression syndrome , a rare condition in which the bones of the lower spine and legs are missing or may be malformed.

La'Mareea lives in Junction City, Ohio. This year her mom, Angela Neal, reached out to Lancaster, Ohio–based Elegant Ele Fine Art Photography and Design , which had put out a call for models. Neal wanted to know if La'Mareea's condition would preclude her from being in a photo shoot. In fact, the photographer, "thought it was really cool that La'Mareea was different," Neal said.

The images were so fierce, the photographer called her the "warrior queen," and if you check out the images from La'Mareea's photo shoot you will see that name is entirely accurate.

11. This 26-year-old man had one of the fastest recoveries from a face transplant yet.

Cameron Underwood of Yuba City, California, had a face transplant in January, about 18 months after he was injured from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A 100-person medical team at NYU Langone made it possible, including his surgeon, Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez.

Underwood had a relatively quick recovery, due in part to his good physical health and his dedication to recovery, Rodriguez told BuzzFeed News. Underwood also underwent an extensive psychological evaluation before having the procedure.

"People that have gone through or are going through the same kind of mental illness that I went through: There is help out there," Underwood told BuzzFeed News. "Ultimately you want to check it before it gets to my stage, but just talk to somebody, even friends or family. It might be difficult but it’s worth it."

12. This model breastfed while walking the runway .

Mara Martin is one of 16 finalists chosen from a model search for Sports Illustrated's Miami fashion show. She decided to take her breastfeeding 5-month-old along with her on the catwalk.

And I think we can all agree, that's pretty badass. Rock on, mama.

13. This adorable 6-year-old was all of us going for a run.

Evelyn is 6, lives in Kansas, and asked her big sister, Sirena Salazar, if she could go on a run with her.

Evelyn quickly found her run more challenging than she thought and wondered why her heart was beating so fast. She said she felt like her "heart is crying."

Salazar tweeted about it, and it went viral, because, well, it's extremely relatable. She recovered from her run, and we're hoping she gives it another try in 2019.

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14. this mom breastfed at her hockey game , demonstrating yet again that breastfeeding is totally cool and normal thing to do..

This is a sweet little story that people who love hockey and breastfeeding (meaning everyone) will like.

Serah Small is a hockey player who lives in Grande Prairie, Alberta, in Canada, who felt her milk come in while playing. She fed her 8-week-old in the locker room between periods, because, you know, babies get hungry. Milky Way Lactation Services shared the photo.

"Being a mom is absolutely amazing, and I'm so happy I got to do something I absolutely love while still meeting my baby's needs," Small told Milky Way. "Our bodies are amazing, and this weekend was the first time I truly appreciated mine."

15. This teen turned to the internet for help for her autistic brother's hard-to-treat acne related to his medication .

Callie Ross-Smith is a college student in Chico, California, and has a younger autistic brother, Alec. He's nonverbal and takes medication that has caused him to have painful acne for years. She posted in /r/SkincareAddiction on Reddit asking for help.

People immediately asked questions and offered solutions. Ross-Smith said she was blown away by the response and came up with a new routine to help her brother's skin. She hopes that people will be better able to see him for who he really is.

“I want to see in the long run if his acne improves, if people see him more," she said.

16. These twins immediately stopped crying as soon as they touched each other again .

Weston and Caleb Lyman were born in February 2018 and pretty much became internet-famous right away. That's because as soon as they were born, they were separated to be weighed, and they started crying, as newborns sometimes do.

But what happened next was pretty special. In a video their dad, Dane Lyman , posted to Facebook, the twins immediately stopped crying as soon as they touched each other again.

It's pretty sweet. We recommend watching it whenever you think the world is terrible.

17. This 27-year-old died of cancer but wrote a letter so moving , she helped many other people learn how to live every day.

In January, 27-year-old Holly Butcher posted a list of life lessons to Facebook a day before she died of cancer. Butcher lived in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia, and had Ewing sarcoma , a rare type of bone or soft tissue cancer that mostly affects younger people. The letter was shared nearly 170,000 times.

You should read Holly's letter in its entirety , but in it she talks about loving your body, living in the moment, and recognizing what's really meaningful in life.

"I just want people to stop worrying so much about the small, meaningless stresses in life and try to remember that we all have the same fate after it all," she wrote, "so do what you can to make your time feel worthy and great, minus the bullshit."

Ed Lee’s name and the name of Yuba City, California, were misstated in an earlier version of this post.

Essay on Health for Students and Children

500+ words essay on health.

Essay on Health: Health was earlier said to be the ability of the body functioning well. However, as time evolved, the definition of health also evolved. It cannot be stressed enough that health is the primary thing after which everything else follows. When you maintain good health , everything else falls into place.

Similarly, maintaining good health is dependent on a lot of factors. It ranges from the air you breathe to the type of people you choose to spend your time with. Health has a lot of components that carry equal importance. If even one of them is missing, a person cannot be completely healthy.

Constituents of Good Health

First, we have our physical health. This means being fit physically and in the absence of any kind of disease or illness . When you have good physical health, you will have a longer life span. One may maintain their physical health by having a balanced diet . Do not miss out on the essential nutrients; take each of them in appropriate quantities.

Secondly, you must exercise daily. It may be for ten minutes only but never miss it. It will help your body maintain physical fitness. Moreover, do not consume junk food all the time. Do not smoke or drink as it has serious harmful consequences. Lastly, try to take adequate sleep regularly instead of using your phone.

Next, we talk about our mental health . Mental health refers to the psychological and emotional well-being of a person. The mental health of a person impacts their feelings and way of handling situations. We must maintain our mental health by being positive and meditating.

Subsequently, social health and cognitive health are equally important for the overall well-being of a person. A person can maintain their social health when they effectively communicate well with others. Moreover, when a person us friendly and attends social gatherings, he will definitely have good social health. Similarly, our cognitive health refers to performing mental processes effectively. To do that well, one must always eat healthily and play brain games like Chess, puzzles and more to sharpen the brain.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Physical Health Alone is Not Everything

There is this stigma that surrounds mental health. People do not take mental illnesses seriously. To be completely fit, one must also be mentally fit. When people completely discredit mental illnesses, it creates a negative impact.

For instance, you never tell a person with cancer to get over it and that it’s all in their head in comparison to someone dealing with depression . Similarly, we should treat mental health the same as physical health.

Parents always take care of their children’s physical needs. They feed them with nutritious foods and always dress up their wounds immediately. However, they fail to notice the deteriorating mental health of their child. Mostly so, because they do not give it that much importance. It is due to a lack of awareness amongst people. Even amongst adults, you never know what a person is going through mentally.

Thus, we need to be able to recognize the signs of mental illnesses . A laughing person does not equal a happy person. We must not consider mental illnesses as a taboo and give it the attention it deserves to save people’s lives.

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One Expert's Advice to Help You Write a Strong Overcoming Adversity Essay

Leslie Tucker PhD, Jun 07, 2021

Learn how to pick the right adversity story and write an impressive overcoming adversity essay

Whether you’re working on college or scholarship applications, you’re bound to come across the overcoming adversity essay sooner or later. While every type of college application essay is unique, the overcoming adversity essay presents particular challenges for students.

What’s the best way to talk about the adversity in your life? What if you come off as too whiny? What if you don’t have any significant obstacles to write about? Will you be at a disadvantage?

Every year, my students ask me how to tackle this tricky part of their college applications. Luckily for you, I’ve developed a fool-proof approach for writing the overcoming adversity essay , and I’m eager to share it.

Keep reading to learn why the adversity essay is important, how to choose the best topic, and how to write an impactful overcoming adversity essay.

Why the overcoming adversity essay is important

When colleges ask you to write a personal hardship essay, what are they trying to learn? Many students think they’re trying to find and admit the applicants who have faced the most adversity. Not true! Trust me, the adversity essay is NOT a competition to see who has it worse.

The purpose of the overcoming adversity essay is to reveal how you respond to difficult situations. Think about it. College is hard—not everyone has what it takes to succeed. Colleges want to accept students who have the skills and resilience to persevere through the adversity they’re bound to face.

So when an admissions officer reads your adversity essay, they’re trying to answer these questions:

●      How do you manage stress?

●      How do you attempt to resolve adversity?

●      How do you reflect on the challenges you face?

●      How do you apply lessons to your life?

If you can successfully answer these questions, you’ll write a stand-out overcoming adversity essay.

Not sure how to recognize an overcoming adversity essay prompt? Here are a few examples.

The Common App

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

The University of Miami

Considering your ability to control your own motivation and behavior, how have past experiences helped build your courage and resilience to persist in the face of academic and life challenges so that, once these storms pass, you can emerge in continued pursuit of your goals?

The University of California

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

How to select the best story for your overcoming adversity essay

Choosing what to write your overcoming adversity essay about can be a challenge. The hardest things you’ve faced in life might not actually be the best topics. So I always encourage students to brainstorm lots of ideas before committing to one.

Here’s what I suggest. Sit down with a family member or close friend. Write a list of all the adversity you’ve faced—big and small. From challenging school projects to your parents divorce to the death of a family member, add everything you can think of to your list.

Next, you’ll want to remember and record how you reacted to each of the obstacles on your list. What were you thinking? What actions did you take?

To choose your adversity essay story, you’ll actually focus on your reactions list. Search for the instances when you showed impressive grit, strength, resilience, and problem-solving skills. These are the best stories to use for your overcoming adversity essay.

Weak topics for your adversity essay

As you’re selecting which topic to write about, beware of choosing a story that falls into one of these categories.

●      Adversity you faced due to COVID or virtual learning—everyone dealt with these circumstances, so it’s not a unique topic and won’t help you stand out.

●      Obstacles you dealt with in elementary or middle school—it’s a bit too outdated. Find a more recent instance of your grit and resilience.

●      Interpersonal struggles you had with a teacher or coach—these essays can come off like you don’t get along well with adults, which isn’t the impression you want to give.

Strong topics for your adversity essay

Any story that shows your maturity and problem-solving skills is a good choice for your overcoming adversity essay. Even so, there are few topics that might be better options for you than others, depending on your circumstances.

●      Ongoing obstacles you’re still facing but you’re handling well—important if this obstacle will carry on into college.

●      Adversity that interfered with your academic achievement—important if you had a GPA dip you’d like to explain.

●      Something that will resonate with the school you’re applying to or the career you’re pursuing—important if adversity drove you to choose a specific type of school or major.

How to write an impressive overcoming adversity essay

Now we’ve arrived at my fool-proof overcoming adversity essay formula. Once you’ve chosen the right story that demonstrates your resilience, just apply this formula to create a memorable adversity essay.

This formula is simple. It’s all about crafting a narrative. Remember, you’re telling the story of when you faced an obstacle. So you want it to sound like a real story, not a school report.

Here is the five-step formula to writing the perfect overcoming adversity essay.

• Introduce the obstacle or adversity
• Describe your emotional response
• Discuss the actions you took to face the problem
• Share the outcome of the situation
• Reveal what you learned from the experience

See? It’s a piece of cake. Now let’s see how it looks applied to an adversity story.

• The adversity: My family moved across the country between my sophomore and junior year.
• Emotional response: I was devastated to lose my friends and scared to start over in a new place.
• Actions taken: I scheduled regular talks and virtual hang outs with my old friends to ensure we’d stay in touch. Then I pushed myself to join two clubs at the beginning of the school year.
• Outcome: I stayed connected with friends from home. And even though it was intimidating to make new friends, putting myself out there helped me quickly meet people who shared my interests. I felt less alone and adjusted to my new environment sooner than I expected.
• Lessons learned: I am stronger and more adaptable than I thought I was. I am capable of thriving in new places and creating a new community for myself wherever I go.

With extremely little effort, I made a strong outline for an adversity essay using this formula. You can do the same!

Dos and don’ts for your overcoming adversity essay

The formula will take you a long way in structuring your adversity essay, but here are a few additional tips and tricks to make sure your writing is outstanding.

●       Don’t try to garner sympathy or pity —be honest about what happened, but remember your purpose isn’t to make the reader feel bad for you.

●       Do maintain a positive and upbeat tone throughout your adversity essay.

●       Don’t spend too much time describing the problem —keep it brief and to the point.

●       Do focus the majority of the essay on how you responded to and resolved the obstacle.

●       Don’t forget to include the outcome and the lessons you learned —self reflection is impressive to application readers.

●       Do connect what you learned with your future in college or in your chosen career.

Remember, one of the great things about the overcoming adversity essay is that you’re telling a story. You’re not making an argument or delivering an informational report. Once you have your story and the structure in place, have fun with the rest!

Final thoughts about the overcoming adversity essay

I’ll never say writing a college application essay is easy. But hopefully I’ve convinced you that the overcoming adversity essay isn’t as intimidating as it seems. In fact, I hope you have an enjoyable time writing your adversity essay and celebrating your resilience. Be proud of yourself. You are amazing!

I want to hear from you! What are your thoughts and concerns about the overcoming adversity essay? Drop a comment below, and I’ll be happy to address them.

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📕 Studying HQ

120+ healthcare argumentative essay topics [+outline], dr. wilson mn.

• August 3, 2022
• Essay Topics and Ideas , Samples

If you’re a nursing student, then you know how important it is to choose Great Healthcare argumentative essay topics.

After all, your essay will be graded on both the content of your argument and how well you defend it. That’s why it’s so important to choose topics that you’re passionate about and that you can research thoroughly.

What You'll Learn

Strong Healthcare argumentative essay topics

To help you get started, here are some strong Healthcare argumentative essay topics to consider:

• Is there a nurse shortage in the United States? If so, what are the causes, and what can be done to mitigate it?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of various types of Nurse staffing models?
• What are the implications of the current opioid epidemic on nurses and patients?
• Are there any ethical considerations that should be taken into account when providing care to terminally ill patients?
• What are the most effective ways to prevent or treat healthcare-acquired infections?
• Should nurses be allowed to prescribe medication? If so, under what circumstances?
• How can nurses best advocate for their patients’ rights?
• What is the role of nurses in disaster relief efforts?
• The high cost of healthcare in the United States.
• The debate over whether or not healthcare is a human right.
• The role of the government in providing healthcare.
• The pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act.
• The impact of healthcare on the economy.
• The problem of access to healthcare in rural areas.
• The debate over single-payer healthcare in the United States.
• The pros and cons of private health insurance.
• The rising cost of prescription drugs in the United States.
• The use of medical marijuana in the United States.
• The debates over end-of-life care and assisted suicide in the United States.

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Controversial Healthcare topics

There is no shortage of controversial healthcare topics to write about. From the high cost of insurance to the debate over medical marijuana, there are plenty of issues to spark an interesting and thought-provoking argumentative essay.

Here are some Controversial healthcare argumentative essay topics to get you started:

1. Is healthcare a right or a privilege?

2. Should the government do more to regulate the healthcare industry?

3. What is the best way to provide quality healthcare for all?

4. Should medical marijuana be legalized?

5. How can we control the rising cost of healthcare?

6. Should cloning be used for medical research?

7. Is it ethical to use stem cells from embryos?

8. How can we improve access to quality healthcare?

9. What are the implications of the Affordable Care Act?

10. What role should pharmaceutical companies play in healthcare?

11. The problems with the current healthcare system in the United States.

12. The need for reform of the healthcare system in the United States.

Great healthcare argumentative essay topics

Healthcare is a controversial and complex issue, and there are many different angles that you can take when writing an argumentative essay on the topic. Here are some great healthcare argumentative essay topics to get you started:

1. Should the government provide free or low-cost healthcare to all citizens?

2. Is private healthcare better than public healthcare?

3. Should there be more regulation of the healthcare industry?

4. Are medical costs too high in the United States?

5. Should all Americans be required to have health insurance?

6. How can the rising cost of healthcare be controlled?

7. What is the best way to provide healthcare to aging Americans?

8. What role should the government play in controlling the cost of prescription drugs?

9. What impact will the Affordable Care Act have on the healthcare system in the United States?

Hot healthcare argumentative essay topics

Healthcare is always a hot-button issue. Whether it’s the Affordable Care Act, single-payer healthcare, or something else entirely, there’s always plenty to debate when it comes to healthcare. Here are some great healthcare argumentative essay topics to help get you started.

1. Is the Affordable Care Act working?

2. Should the government do more to provide healthcare for its citizens?

3. Should there be a single-payer healthcare system in the United States?

4. What are the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act?

5. What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare costs in the United States?

6. Is the Affordable Care Act sustainable in the long run?

7. What challenges does the Affordable Care Act face?

8. What are the potential solutions to the problems with the Affordable Care Act?

9. Is single-payer healthcare a good idea?

10. What are the pros and cons of single-payer healthcare?

Argumentative topics related to healthcare

Healthcare is always an ever-evolving issue. It’s one of those topics that everyone has an opinion on and is always eager to discuss . That’s why it makes for such a great topic for an argumentative essay . If you’re looking for some fresh ideas, here are some great healthcare argumentative essay topics to get you started.

1. Is our healthcare system in need of a complete overhaul?

3. Are rising healthcare costs making it difficult for people to access care?

4. Is our current healthcare system sustainable in the long term?

5. Should we be doing more to prevent disease and promote wellness?

6. What role should the private sector play in providing healthcare?

7. What can be done to reduce the number of errors in our healthcare system?

8. How can we make sure that everyone has access to quality healthcare?

9. What can be done to improve communication and collaboration between different parts of the healthcare system?

10. How can we make sure that everyone has access to the care they need when they need it?

Argumentative essay topics about health

There are many different stakeholders in the healthcare debate, and each one has their own interests and perspectives. Here are some great healthcare argumentative essay topics to get you started:

1. Who should pay for healthcare?

2. Is healthcare a right or a privilege?

3. What is the role of the government in healthcare?

4. Should there be limits on what treatments insurance companies must cover?

5. How can we improve access to healthcare?

6. What are the most effective methods of preventing disease?

7. How can we improve the quality of care in our hospitals?

8. What are the best ways to control costs in the healthcare system?

9. How can we ensure that everyone has access to basic care?

10. What are the ethical implications of rationing healthcare?

Medical argumentative essay topics

• Is healthcare a fundamental human right?

2. Should there be limits on medical research using human subjects?

3. Should marijuana be legalized for medicinal purposes?

4. Should the government do more to regulate the use of prescription drugs?

5. Is alternative medicine effective?

6. Are there benefits to using placebos in medical treatment?

7. Should cosmetic surgery be covered by health insurance?

8. Is it ethical to buy organs on the black market?

9. Are there risks associated with taking herbal supplements?

10. Is it morally wrong to end a pregnancy?

11. Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?

12. Is it ethical to test new medical treatments on animals?

13. Should people with terminal illnesses have the right to end their lives?

14. Is it morally wrong to sell organs for transplantation?

15. Are there benefits to using stem cells from embryos in medical research?

16. Is it ethical to use human beings in medical experiments?

17. Should the government do more to fund medical research into cancer treatments?

18. Are there risks associated with genetic engineering of humans?

19. Is it ethical to clones humans for the purpose

Argumentative essays on mental illness

• Should there be more focus on mental health in schools?
• Are our current treatments for mental illness effective?
• Are mental health disorders more common now than they were in the past?
• How does social media impact mental health?
• How does trauma impact mental health?
• What are the most effective treatments for PTSD?
• Is therapy an effective treatment for mental illness?
• What causes mental illness?
• How can we destigmatize mental illness?
• How can we better support those with mental illness?
• Should insurance companies cover mental health treatments?
• What are the most effective treatments for depression?
• Should medication be used to treat mental illness?
• What are the most effective treatments for anxiety disorders?
• What are the most effective treatments for OCD?
• What are the most effective treatments for eating disorders?
• What are the most effective treatments for bipolar disorder?
• How can we better support caregivers of those with mental illness?
• What role does stigma play in mental illness?

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Growing number of men in outback mining hub of Mount Isa turning to yoga for mental health

Perched atop a rocky outcrop in outback Queensland, Shane Butler sits cross-legged, meditating as the sun sets over his home town.

As a burly, bearded underground miner, he is not who people might expect to be the face of yoga in the bush.

Living in the outback Queensland mining centre of Mount Isa, Mr Butler is among many men who spend years working underground, clocking in and out of exhausting 12-hour days.

Fatigued and trying to provide for his family, Mr Butler never spoke about the mental toll of mining in an isolated town.

"The working culture is taxing mentally and physically," he said.

"It's an 84-hour week without much break and then you have to balance that with your life, being a good dad, and running a budget — something has to give."

Statistics show Mr Butler is not alone.

According to suicide prevention group Mates In Mining, suicide rates in the mining and construction industry are higher than the general working population.

That rings true for Mr Butler, who says that for years he struggled to deal with feelings of anxiety.

"There's a huge stigma when it comes to men and mental health."

After trying yoga, Mr Butler found it so effective he decided to get his accreditation so he could start running classes for men.

"It was always about getting more men into it, helping to spread the word and share what I have felt. I had to put myself out there in order to gain that trust."

More men on the mats

Mr Butler's budding yoga program "naMANste" is growing in popularity as word spreads among other male miners.

Class attendee and fellow underground miner Renata Carlson said it was hard to come to the first session.

"I had made every excuse not to come," he said.

"The old 'I can't be bothered', or 'there'll be too many people and I'll be out of my comfort zone' but now that I've done it, it's been really great."

After spending a decade working underground in the Mount Isa mine, Mr Carlson said he was finally making his mental health a priority.

"I'll look at this as another tool to help, like exercise and other stuff, this here is another tool in the old belt."

Outback mental health gap

Self-described "knockabout" bloke Tony "Tonka" Toholke has lived in the mining town for almost two decades.

After a personal mental health battle, he became an advocate for empowering other men to get help.

"In personal experience, the existing support for men in the outback is terrible," he said.

"We need a greater focus on how to help men, and men need to be more open about seeking help."

Mr Toholke said outback mining communities needed "all they could get" when it came to mental health services, particularly for men.

"What Shane and the guys are doing is bloody outstanding," he said.

"I'd encourage anyone to go and have a crack [at yoga]. Have some fun with it and you might meet someone that you're able to talk with."

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