Do you ever feel stigmatised, if so, overtly and/or covertly, explicitly and/or implicitly?

My world is filled with covert stigmatisation (except among friends; they all stray from the common path sometimes; we're all generally nuts; few exceptions).
Except when stable/hypomanic (can't tell the difference with all these antipsychotics): charisma!

Overtly, when I advise my "mild"-BP (as in II; depression is severe but mostly clouded by somatisation) mum to finally seek the right treatment: "I'm not crazy, you are!". Though she doesn't really use the word "crazy", it's sure sounds like it.

Then there is the stuff on the news. Doesn't help that SZA sounds exactly like SZ to most and there is always a schizophrenia witch hunt going on. Feel ashamed to tell it is another disorder, out of solidarity. Just call it all mood flippin' psychotic, already!



Or my psychiatrist (bless her) who says: "That's just not normal" (I know I am not, and, as you as clinicians all assume, will never be, really. Deal with it! I like being me).