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ryan g's picture

Stigma

Submitted by ryan g on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 11:56am.

I've been thinking a bit about this word "stigma" that keeps popping up in our discussion.  I just wanted to comment on it...   

It seems that there's a general feeling that if we could just get people to realize that mental illnesses are really medical diseases with identifiable biological causes, then the stigma surrounding mental illness would go away.  While I do agree that there would be many benefits that would come from this shift in consciousness (insurance coverage etc..), I don't feel like this would alleviate the stigma issue.

It seems to me that stigma is not a "mental health" issue.  It's an "illness" issue.  Many physiological disorders (HIV, herpes, rabies) have stigmas surrounding them.  

To continue Marty's comment from class, I feel like the root of the problem is the association of a character flaw with the disorder.  To really erase the stigma, we need to break this confusion/connection.  

 

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