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Stigma is subtle and insidious.  It permeates our environment.  It can be seen by a good radio business not including the very individuals who are at the center of the issue of our mental health system (ever go to a physician and have them tell you that your very real pain is all in your head, and you just need to listen to them?  something like that).  It can be seen by the lack of funding of housing, education, and work training since "those poor people" probably just need a place to sit, smoke, and watch tv.  It can be seen by the state measures of "successful" treatment being routinely focused on reduced spending, reduced hospitalization days, and reduced returns to the hospital (while the lives of those treated result in "living" in a place where they are relegated to just sitting, smoking, and watching tv).  It can be seen by the assumption, when you talk with past or current recipients about their dehumanizing treatment in the "mental health system" (and you feel their quickly rising pain and frustration about being treated with negative assumptions about their potential and with disrespect), that their anguished complaints are just the evidence of their mental health symptoms.  It can be seen when legislators don't prioritize sufficient funds for adequate treatment because "shouldn't a five-person group home be enough?"  Or when providers don't push on insurers or payors to pay for non-medication therapies that are well-documented to be equally or more effective than medications, and believe that just symptom reduction through medication therapy that can produce disabling and life-shortening side effects should be "good enough."  It is, worst of all, seen when a person experiencing mental health problems comes to believe that they shouldn't speak up on their own behalf because,"look at all of the trouble I have caused," and therefore, "I don't deserve it."  Shame on us.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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