Page 4 - Vision Manual

What is Stigma?
Stigma
Stigma are the negative attitudes, erroneous beliefs, harmful opinions, and prejudices that people have developed about mental illness. Stigma is commonly experienced by individuals with Mental Health, and usually comes out as being treated differently by care providers, being dismissed by friends or family, or being looked at as being wrong. It is a substantial barrier for people with mental illness, because it makes it hard to get needs met.
Stigma is a complicated problem, as it has many causes and solutions to it require a great deal of energy and resources. Generally speaking, research shows that the more educated people become about mental illness the less they are likely to engage in behavior associated with stigma. This is why it is important to learn to become comfortable sharing and talking about mental health with care providers and the important people in your life, as the more they understand mental illness and your experience, the less stigma they are likely to have.
Questions: In what ways have you seen stigma impact your life? How do you deal with it? Who do you have that doesn’t engage in some of the stigma behavior? What is different about them?
Self-Stigma
Stigma is not just something that other people do to us or with us, but is also something that individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses might do to themselves. Self-Stigma are the negative attitudes that form around ourselves due to the opinions expressed by others, things we have learned in the media, and the way we might feel about being diagnosed. It might affect your beliefs about what you can expect for yourself in the future, or might discourage you from seeking help from others.
Self-Stigma commonly manifests when you discourage yourself or blame yourself for being depressed, saying things like “I have no right to be sad” or “I shouldn’t feel the way I do”, or “I can’t be a good friend/worker/family member because I have depression”. Self-Stigma is dangerous, because the more we believe it the more we are likely to struggle with asking for help, interacting with others, and working to get better. It’s also dangerous because it prevents us from challenging the stigma of others, and makes it so that stigma continues to be a part of our life.
Questions: Do you experience self-stigma? How do you see it come out? What has helped you fight it in the past?
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