One of the reasons Mental illness is as big of a problem as it is because people surrounding those affected refuse to treat them with compassion and empathy, replacing it with suspicion and invalidation due to fundamental attribution error.
It is my impression that empathy is at an all time low. Socially, individualism is increasingly pushed, at the level discourse is treating resources more and more scarce and thus attempting to evaluate the means of maintaining the status quo.
This results in things like mental health support, while advocated for is remarkably performative in most peoples lives. people - especially those who have not experienced it themselves - are incredibly skeptical of the burden mental illnesses like clinical depression and generalised anxiety disorder imposed by default on those afflicted with them.
Often resulting in increased isolation and scrutiny due to the lack of tangibility compared to a more physical, observable ailment like a broken bone. This scrutiny and in certain cultures a level of inherent emotional repression only serves to embed and worsen the disease through the inability to reach out without fear of scorn. Ignorant and judgemental attributions such as 'attention-seeking' are given to those who outwardly express their suffering, be it through conscious support-seeking, emotional displays in public or on social media or in extreme cases harm to themselves or others. It's a common sight that people only start to show empathy after someone has taken their own lives.
Think of the lives that could be saved if they were just believed sooner rather than belittled for inconveniencing those around them with something they struggle to manage or control in a way that maintains that frame of individuality?
In an age where healthcare is increasingly unaffordable, support systems within families and friends, within reason, have an increased responsibility to...not arbitrarily make it any worse.
While I'm unable to go into the nuance of approach due to an already lengthy post, especially since it's circumstantial and down to the case - I believe that the pragmatism people claim to approach a mentally ill person with not too far removed from that which is often dispensed to those who are homeless (which while writing, I realise is also a potential byproduct of this cognitive bias I'm describing). In other words nothing but cruelty, and a truly pragmatic approach would be to sooner accept the reality of those who are afflicted, understand that they do not wish to impose due to the aforementioned social stigma, and approach with curiosity and compassion rather than judgement and scorn before its too late.