What to Do About the Stigma?
We can do many things to help on an individual level and on up to a political level.Consider the advice of psychology instructor, Patricia Adams, to just try to change your words. When speaking of someone with a mental illness, say that "she is a person with bipolar disorder" and not "she's so bipolar!"
Also, don't use mental health disorders to talk about people negatively, for example jokingly or disparagingly saying someone is schizophrenic when the person is not.
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| Buffalo Library Mental Health Awareness Day 5/3/2018 |
If you have a mental illness or you are close to someone with mental illness, be open about it. Talk about it to people, share your story and show by example that it should not be a taboo topic. Here are some other ideas from people who have been dealing with mental illness stigma, from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Mental Health Awareness Events are good to raise awareness and answer questions.
On a larger scale, write to your elected officials at the local, state and federal levels to educate them on the problems facing those with mental illness and the need for updated laws as well as funding and other attention to the mental health crisis in this country. Thanks to the internet, writing your elected officials is easy as pie: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.