Mental Health Stigma - What Can We Do About It?

What is Stigma?

Stigma is the use of stereotypes and labels when describing someone, and it is often attached to people who suffer from mental health issues. We don't fully understand how the brain works yet, but one thing we DO know is that it is an organ. Yet our society doesn't readily accept brain disorders the way we accept other organ disorders. Why is this so?

Stigma is a harsh reality for people who have mental health problems, because it prevents them from enjoying a normal and productive life. So many people today feel uncomfortable about mental health issues, despite the fact that there is growing evidence that more and more people are developing these problems. In fact, many people are so uncomfortable with the stigma that they would rather suffer in silence than get help they need.

Here are a few of the most common misconceptions about mental health problems:

Mentally ill people have a weak character

Mentally ill people are potentially dangerous.

People with mental illness should just "snap out of it"

Mentally ill people are violent

The media has only further fuelled our distorted beliefs about mental health issues. Frequently, characters on television and in the movies that have a mental illness are depicted as dangerous, unpredictable and violent.

What Are the Effects of Stigma?

If you became ill you would go to a doctor. Once you got better, you would expect to get on with life as usual. But it's not that easy for people who suffer from mental illness. Often, they can suffer from persistent rejections and exclusions by ill-informed members of the community. Some people have been denied loans, health insurance and jobs because of their history of mental health issues. Consequently, these people lose their self confidence and may develop further anxiety or depression, on top of the issues they are already facing.

I witnessed this first hand many years ago, when my brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The majority of his friends deserted him; they weren't able to comprehend or cope with his altered personality and erratic behaviour. Within months he went from being a popular, vivacious and outgoing young man to a shattered, isolated loner. Over the following months, I watched my brother sink deeper into debilitating depression, which ultimately became so unbearable that he took his own life.

What Can We Do?

All of us have times when we feel depressed, anxious or angry. We might even have a series of bad days, where we think that nothing will ever go right for us and the world is against us. For a mentally ill person, these feelings do not go away.

So the answer lies in education and understanding. If you know someone who seems very emotional, down or upset, then lead by example; show compassion and understanding, and encourage them to seek help. And if you're suffering silently yourself, take comfort in the fact that you're not alone and that there is hope.

***You are licensed to publish this article free of charge, on condition that the author's name is included, and the link to her website remains visible and clickable to human readers, and as long as the links can be read and followed by the search engine spiders. ***

Sonia Devine is a qualified professional hypnotherapist and success coach with a caring and committed approach to healing, who lives in Melbourne, Australia. You can find more of her information on mental health, self image, love, relationships, phobias and much more on her website Manifest Your Success

MORE RESOURCES:

GM shares hit lowest price since Great Depression - BusinessWeek

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The Big Three Depression risk - CNNMoney.com

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/20/news/gm_depression/%3Fpostversion%3D2008112017cid=1272495339ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNGdPKYz53X-L-drtepSBb3M0UeEpAThe Big Three bDepression/b risk/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCNNMoney.comnbsp;-/font nobr3 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Some fear a loss of GM, Ford and Chrysler would take US into another bdepression/b. Even if that doesn#39;t happen, a major auto failure would clearly hurt. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://subscribers.wardsauto.com/ar/execs_reset_bailout_081119/cid=1272495339ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNEOzLTlnhXzMmAMUYx_xoL1FY9saAAuto Execs Reset Bailout Pitch; Republicans to Rewrite CAFE for Loans/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWard's Auto (subscription)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-2fd=Rurl=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/11/19/ailing_automakers_plead_for_25b_in_loanscid=1272495339ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNGYXVOYkKc5Auizs6JkrWLw9PeZywAiling automakers plead for $25b in loans/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBoston Globe (registration)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-3fd=Rurl=http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20081120/OPINION01/811200302cid=1272495339ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNFCmQiCLdTRXpbAlj-selBKD-ayiwAuto bailout must come with strings/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrVisalia Times-Delta/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-4fd=Rurl=http://www.freep.com/article/20081118/BUSINESS01/81118038/%3Fimw%3DYcid=1272495339ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNEfWzdoDotGmoSAEF74aqPOxWR5-QnobrDetroit Free Press/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-5fd=Rurl=http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_wavy_retirees_auto_bailout_20081118cid=1272495339ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNGSM2zuM8miAp_agjJb5hH9h_nm3wnobrWAVY-TV/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272495339hl=ennobrall 1,740 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Guest Post: The Great Depression, as I remember - CNNMoney.com

Another Great Depression? - Wadena Pioneer Journal

Fairfax Students Report Depression - McLean Connection

Depression linked to poorer diabetes control - Reuters

Depression risk hits shares - The Australian

Depression vs. Now: From a Man Who Knows - MyFox Kansas City

Texas Tech Thursday Morning Notes - Deed, Deed State of Depression ... - Double-T Nation

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8i-0fd=Rurl=http://onlinesportshandicapping.com/news/college-football-news/texas-tech-vs.-oklahoma-free-college-football-picks-with-national-title-implications-112008.htmlcid=1271602737ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNEn15KJdT_Hox1bijtTPO7HaCcxVwimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=A3KWbl7EtgsJimgurl=onlinesportshandicapping.com/news/images/stories/texas-tech-vs-oklahoma-monster-game-with-national-title-implications-11-20-2008.jpg width=80 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2OnlineSportsHandicapping.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.doubletnation.com/2008/11/20/666120/texas-tech-thursday-mornincid=1271602737ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNF042ecU9IvprB3ZatdkrDPvm__xATexas Tech Thursday Morning Notes - Deed, Deed State of bDepression/b b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fDouble-T Nation,nbsp;TXnbsp;-/font nobr14 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1by Seth C on Nov 20, 2008 6:28 AM CST in Morning Notes Same thing as yesterday, a ton of stuff to get to, I#39;m not sure I#39;ll have time to link to everything, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/112008dnspocarltoncol.32899bd.htmlcid=1271602737ei=XCQmSdabMpnK8AT9w61Eusg=AFQjCNEX_TrNbDnjiLno8qibfkAG9jCFLAOld friend Leach now dangerous foe for Oklahoma/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrDallas Morning News/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1271602737hl=ennobrall 454 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Listeners Share Memories Of The Great Depression - NPR

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