Speaking Out Against Stigmas

By Richard Reeve

There is little hesitation in our culture to speak about physical illness.  For instance distant acquaintances and strangers will often disclose the difficult challenges they or or a family member face with cancer.  It’s a different story with mental illness.  Psychiatric disorders are not openly discussed even with the closest of friends.   So what’s behind the stigma?

At the heart of the stigma attached to all psychiatric disorders seems to be fear and a lack of understanding.  It’s as if a type of magical thinking still governs our collective behavior.  We remained “hushed” about those things which might find an unknown way to harm us.

Another difficulty with the stigma is the projection of moral judgments onto individual suffering with mental illness.  It’s not uncommon to hear a comment like “just shake it off” relating to an individual suffering from depression, as if thy had a switch to flip to make it disappear.    Would such a suggestion ever be given to a person with a skin ailment?  Implied is that the individual has full control over the experience they are struggling with.

What can we do to address these issues so that the millions suffering from psychiatric disorders do not have to deal with the added difficulty created by the social stigmas?