Well Dragon, there is just SO much ignorance in the population about the challenges of mental heath issues. Even those that struggle with it are very challenged to understand it.

We are studying "human nature" all the time and we have been learning a lot. For example, as young as three years old children show that "if something is not like me, like what I like, it is not wanted". If a child loves peanut butter cookies and hates beans, is asked to pick from "identical" stuffed bears, one who likes peanut butter cookies and one who likes beans, the child will pick the stuffed bear that likes peanut butter cookies, even though the other teddy bear is identical. So I would submize that the bear who likes beans is stigmatized as an "unworthy" bear or "something is just not right about that bear so it "doesn't belong". However, this is also where, prejudice begins as well. We are all born with a message to "identify" certain "positive" traits that send a message that another person is "ok" and "acceptable".

In order for people to get to the point where they are more "willing" to detach from stigmatizing and isolating other human beings, people have to "learn" about where this comes from and that some of it is just due to "design". And that is going to be a challenge, because we are also talking about different cultures and races as well as social classes. A "child" is very easily "programed" by it's parents, and others it grows up around that send it messages of "you should not like that person, they are bad".

Also if someone does struggle in some way with some sort of psychological challenge, they begin to "believe" they are "less than" as well. As "vibe" describes, even though there was a "challenge", with attention and "exposure" that challenge has been "slowly" overcome. So often, people "stigmatize" themselves as well and in that they begin to "convince" themselves that they are not "capable" and instead of learning to "work around" their challenge, they simply give up and lose their ability to "thrive".

The real "answer" to gaining and respecting those that do struggle with some kind of psychological challenge, is "education" and "knowledge". Until we have that, we will just stigmatize. We stigmatize because we "fear" the things we do not understand, things we consider "different" somehow and we are designed that way. And unfortunately we are so susceptable to "stigmatizing" that human beings can become very "violent" towards each other.

I am living in a country where an "election" is taking place. I am sitting back and looking at a process that revolves around "stigmatizing" and also watching how human beings become "devided" and "motivated" to "follow" along with "he is the bad guy, vote for me instead". After learning about a three year old that picks a teddy bear simply because that child is "told" that teddy bear happens to like peanut butter cookies too brings to light how much power a "peanut butter cookie" can have simply because a child "likes" it. Human beings are very easily "led".

Open Eyes