Stigma and the Individual

Stigma is many things. It is wrong. It is hurtful. It is cruel. It is unethical. It is amoral. It is counterproductive. It is plain stupid. It is bigoted. And at its worst, it is deadly.

This is a difficult topic for me to write about without getting worked up. At this point in our evolution as a species there is no room and no excuse for stigma in the world. Even though there is still a lot we need to learn, we know too much these days to excuse stigma.

Recent studies have shown that over half of Americans will show signs of mental health problems within their lifetime, with a third of Americans reporting them within the previous twelve month period. If you ask me, that is a very serious problem and it affects a lot of people.

Mental health problems, including mental illnesses, range in severity and impact. Even in the most severe cases, the person affected is not a bad person. They are just like everyone else, a person who wants to live a happy life, free of pain and suffering.

Stigma prevents these people, people like me, from being able to achieve this goal. It takes this fundamental human right away from us. It drives us to hide our problems. It leaves us suffering in silence and suffering alone.

How does it do these things?

It does these things, and much more, by intimidation. It stops us from saying anything, lest we get shunned. We keep quiet because we do not want to be alienated from everyone else. We do not want people to abandon us because we are not “normal”. We fear getting that look of disgust from people when they find out.

Society, through stigma, teaches us we should be embarrassed because of our challenges. It teaches us that we are weak because we cannot ‘get over it’ or because we are “so dramatic all the  time”. It teaches us we are defective. It teaches us we are “bad people”.

The things that stigma teaches us are all lies. We are good, kind and living people. We want the same things as everyone else. We have as much right to things like happiness and love as anyone else.

To repeat what I said at the start of this article, stigma is many things. It is wrong. It is hurtful. It is cruel. It is unethical. It is amoral. It is counterproductive. It is plain stupid. It is bigoted. And at its worst, it is deadly.