Part 8/14:
Mental Health Stigma and the Need for Awareness
In the Philippines, mental health issues still carry significant stigma, making it difficult for many to seek help. The taboo surrounding mental illness means that feelings of loneliness and depression are often unspoken, buried beneath cultural expectations to appear happy and resilient. This cultural pressure, combined with limited access to mental health professionals—there's roughly one mental health worker for every 100,000 Filipinos—creates an environment where many suffer in silence.