Okay, so what is the "stigma" of mental illness ??

The pharma front group NAMI is always going on and on and on about the "STIGMA" ...

What the hell is "the stigma" ? Lets look up stigma definition,

Stigma - a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person

It seems to me the only "stigma" is the psychiatric label itself !

Seems like NAMI makes the "stigma" worse wile pushing pills for its pharma funders !!

A generation ago, society had eccentrics. Now, thanks to the efforts of psychiatrists, we have now people with stigmatizing “mental disorders” and the number of disorders grows each year. People who worry about state surveillance are labelled “Paranoid”, those who argue passionately against injustice and have a head full of facts and figures are “Deluded” and suffering from “Thought Disorder” and those full of dreams and visions of a better world are “Psychotic”.

Meanwhile, kids who prefer to explore their surroundings and chatter (as thousands of years of evolution prepared them to do) instead of sitting still listening to teachers are labelled as “suffering from ADHD” cause of a defective brain and drugged.

The "stigma" ?

I still don't get it.

I agree that the psychiatric label is one of the main causes of stigma in regards to mental health. I also think that the world of psychiatry and psychology were some of the forerunners in starting this stigma. the whole thing makes me really angry, so instead of blasting out inappropriate stuff here, I'll leave it as it is.

The Oxford Dictionary (Oxford University Press) definition, both US and UK versions, defines stigma as:

“A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. ‘the stigma of mental disorder’” WTF mates? Blarmy! A technically correct definition but is this a total cock up or are you having a laugh?

I prefer the Merriam-Webster definition:

“A set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something.”

For me the stigma is what I have feared the most my entire life. The condition itself is a gift. At times I really do see things that “normal” can’t. I see it in the behavior of people, in their subconscious communication, in their facial expressions, body language, choice of words, and actions. I really can find the needle in the haystack, the smoking gun, the conspiracy, the hidden evidence.

Keeping my condition a secret is no longer possible so now I am forced to face the stigma. Having a gift makes me a threat to both my adversaries and competitors, so instead I have a problem. The stigma is the cheap shot, the low blow, the stab in the back that I sometimes get from a professional adversary trying to win a case or a competitor trying to woe a client. The stigma has disrupted and damaged my career. The stigma has now become my illness and fighting it is what drives my anxiety and my obsession.

I can’t blame this on any one group. My own friends and family are as much to blame as anyone. But, they at least have an excuse—ignorance. Those of us who know the truth, need to try harder to change things. Here’s an idea. Instead of schizotypal, why not just call me atypical?
And, thanks for yet another chance to post my artwork.

There is no mental illness to a lot of people so there is a group you have to deal with. Mental illness is a labeling game because they can not adequately diagnose this stuff, there is another group you have to deal with. If they can't control there minds I will do it for them and get rich, here is another group for you to deal with. The psychologist that practice for 30 years plus then decide to turn against there field, there is another group to deal with. The people that play crazy in order to get disability checks, they are a group you have to deal with it.

The mental health stigma is all of the above. All of the questions that come along with this stuff make people wonder why would someone ever go somewhere talking about getting some treatment from any of the people in the mental health field.

stigma is just guessing things about people, and the ones that do that the most are the psychiatrists themselves... then theres just people that hate odd behaviour, which is everyone to a degree, so i dont think thats really stigma, but theyll go tell you that you need to be locked up.

The stigma is pretty easy to identify. Tell someone you have a mental illness. Watch how they react. You might as well be a leper. Heaven forbid you tell an employer this information. You'll end up getting sacked within the next two weeks, and of course for some other reason. Although, is throwing a temper tantrum really bipolar disorder?

I don't blame them. I was diagnosed "bipolar," and even though I was much more productive than my fellow employees, I also was moody, unable to control elation, and had to take days, or weeks off for "depression." All of it was under my control, and when I took responsibility for my behavior, I almost immediately stopped having mood swings. Mental illness is a stigma, because it warns people that the person you are dealing with has some red flags. Most of the time, justifiably so. I hate that we punish people that have stuck with these labels. Maybe we should pay out disability for people that have been forced into taking psychotropic medication.

EricBlair wrote:The stigma is pretty easy to identify. Tell someone you have a mental illness. Watch how they react. You might as well be a leper. Heaven forbid you tell an employer this information. You'll end up getting sacked within the next two weeks, and of course for some other reason. Although, is throwing a temper tantrum really bipolar disorder?

I don't blame them. I was diagnosed "bipolar," and even though I was much more productive than my fellow employees, I also was moody, unable to control elation, and had to take days, or weeks off for "depression." All of it was under my control, and when I took responsibility for my behavior, I almost immediately stopped having mood swings. Mental illness is a stigma, because it warns people that the person you are dealing with has some red flags. Most of the time, justifiably so. I hate that we punish people that have stuck with these labels. Maybe we should pay out disability for people that have been forced into taking psychotropic medication.

Being put on disability is the worst thing you can sign for. It means basically you have a stamp on your forhead by the gov that says "hi, im mentally ill"