Stigma in full

"A community health program manager got a surprise when she e-mailed her NH Senator recently to ask him about why he had voted to cut money from mental health programs. The Senator told her that society would be better without disabled people, and he wishes he could ship disabled people to Siberia."

Um... what the fuck? I read this and then read it again, and then read it a third time. He confirmed to the newspaper that he said this, and meant it. It's not like she made up the emails. He really does think the mentally ill, addicted, etc. are a financial burden that we shouldn't have to carry along.

If ever there was a time to write your senator about something, it would be about censuring this guy for being an idiot. I can not believe people think like that.

SAMHSA says....

"Recent data from SAMHSA indicate that 45.1 million adults (19.9 percent) in the United States had mental illness in the past year. Of those, nearly 20 percent of adults (8.9 million) also had a substance use disorder."

That's a lot of us who are sick. And amazing that there's still such a stigma when it's so ingrained. Imagine, almost 20%. That's (I have no idea, but let's call it) one in 5 people you know has a mental health problem, whether it's post-partum depression or schizophrenia. Look around you. That's a lot of people you know who are either hiding it or disabled by it. And of those people, another one in five has a substance abuse disorder.

Amazing that we still discriminate and have so much stigma against those two illnesses when so many people are affected by them. Imagine, it's not just you who is affected by your depression. It affects your family, friends, co-workers. You can't help but make a difference in other people's lives whether you're trying to or not. So all those people are affected by mental illness and yet we're still ashamed and afraid. Amazing.

Stop the stigma

"...people diagnosed with alcoholism at some point in their lifetime were more than 60% less likely to seek treatment if they believed they would be stigmatized once their status is known." And that's just alcoholic stigma! Imagine if you have an inkling that you're mentally ill, too!

"The percentage of people who said they are unwilling to work closely with someone with major depression was 46% in 1996 and 47% in 2006. The percentage of people who considered people with schizophrenia to be a danger to others was 54% in 1996 and 60% in 2006."

That's right. Read it again. 47% if people wouldn't want to work closely with someone with depression. Just plain old depression. Now imagine people thinking about working with people with bipolar (which a lot of people equate with schizophrenia, even though they aren't the same thing). So now just sit back and imagine you have alcoholism AND bipolar disorder. Imagine you're trying to find a job, or a partner, and you know those statistics. Will it make you more afraid to disclose yourself to your boss or your partner? Will you be more likely to stop seeking help because you don't even want your partner to know, or your health insurance? And what happens then?

We know what happens then. We know why we need to stay on our meds, and why we need to take them even when the side effects suck. Not that we're all violent or shouldn't be let out of our cages when we don't take our meds, but I would bet the stories of mentally ill folks hurting others are stories of non-compliance.

If you're reading this and you are just hear for the sobriety, take a minute to think about mental illness. Do you know anyone who is? Are you afraid of them? Are you stigmatizing mentally ill people every day by calling someone who acts out "bipolar" or "schizo?" I know I call others, and myself, crazy all the time, because I think it's lost its power, but I hate when people use bipolar to degrade someone.

Take a minute and go help out NAMI. They're fighting stigma every day. Hey, it's Christmas, make a donation.