And other people in positions of authority as well. I think one of the biggest reasons why the stigma exists is because the people in positions of influence or authority set that negative example which society then follows.

In the past months there have been a few cases illustrating this. In different cases there were people stopped at the Canada/USA border and refused entrance due to those border agents somehow getting access to records relating to their health.

In one case, a woman had been hospitalized for clinical depression a year earlier. She was refused entrance and had to miss a cruise because that information was in her records.

In another case, a bipolar patient was not only denied entrance, but also fingerprinted and photographed because her records indicated she had suicidal thoughts months prior.

So long as people in positions of authority are going to treat people with mental illness as though they're criminals just for having a mental illness, than I don't think the rest of society will move past the stigma.