I have experienced a lot of discrimination due to stigma in my life, but I have worked to fight stigma, even though it makes me nervous to tell the world my Dx. I do share on social media the struggles I face and that I have PTSD and depression. I also share about things like sleep paralysis and my insomnia. I have had people reach out to me who were suffering (Coworkers even who were suicidal) and knew that they could talk to me. And I think that my being brave enough to share my story (or at least parts of it) has helped others. There is a group local to me called Stronger than Stigma, and they do a lot of work to raise awareness about mental health disorders.

There are multiple stigmas about having a mental "illness" or mental health disorder (my preferred way of referring to it). The two I deal with most are that 1) I cannot work because I cannot handle stress - NOT TRUE and 2) I am an overly emotional person who breaks down at the slightest problem.

The reality is actually that I handle pressure far better than most "normies." I've had to live with these disorders and learn to function, so even though I deal with symptoms and managing my disorder, I'm actually far more successful than my "normal" counterparts because I know how to care for myself in the work place. They break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend and they fall apart. I've learned how to deal with emotions and still function...

On the second thing, yes, I do have emotions. I'm not overly emotional though. But I do have strong emotions, and I do have triggers that a normal person won't have. That's a product of being abused. However, just like learning self care and how to set boundaries as in the above paragraph, I have learned to use my emotion and turn it into passion that helps me connect with people and come off as genuine and interested.

I'm not saying there are benefits to having an MH disorder. Because I'd rather not have PTSD. But, I've learned to use all my issues to my advantage. If these are characteristics I'm going to have, then let me show you how I can use them to work for you, and make me a successful employee, business owner, friend, daughter, etc.

In a way, it's like someone with diabetes who is in very much control of their diabetes because they maintain their diet and exercise and take their meds. They might do really well as a personal trainer or nutritionist because they've learned how to manage these aspects in their own life, and had to do so to stay alive. The same thing happens with having an MH disorder. We learn how to function under terrible circumstances. That's an accomplishment.

But, back to stigma, lots of things used to have stigma that no longer do or the stigma is less and decreasing. There used to be huge stigma about women's issues, and now we see tampon commercials everywhere. There was a stigma about being a feminist at one point, but now it's bad not to be a feminist. There was a stigma to being a working mother...I don't know why I'm only thinking of things about women, maybe because it's at the forefront of my mind right now. Think of Stephen Hawking...we used to have huge stigma about people with physical disabilities, and while there still is a stigma there, it's a lot less because of the work he and others have done to show that physical disability does not mean you can't do great things.

So I think it's important to fight stigma. And we all do it in the ways that make sense for us. Some of us are able, like me, to speak out about our experience. Others are not able to, for whatever reason, but maybe they share or like a story, or maybe they confide in a friend who also has problems and realizes they can get help. If we all do what little we can to help others, it can make big difference. For example, not using mental health disorders as derogatory terms...for example saying someone is "schizo" or "manic depressive" or "OCD" just to describe annoying or irritating behavior.

In another support group, someone posted a thread asking a question about something and saying they were too "OCD" to do something at this point. I very politely asked if she was actually referring to being Dx'd OCD or if she meant it to refer to the qualities of OCD, because OCD isn't just about perfectionism. That happens for some people, but that stigma of OCD does a disservice to the pain people with OCD feel and the anxiety they feel. So if she doesn't have OCD, to please not use it as a way to describe how she feels about something. I said this very politely, and she responded that she isn't Dx'd yet but she is being evaluated and she totally got it. And it sparked a good discussion in that group about OCD, the characteristics, etc. And it broke down stigma.

So...we all do what we can. But if we do nothing, then we will see nothing change. Change can absolutely happen. Look at Ghandi. Look at Mother Theresa. Look at Rosa Parks. They said peaceful protest would never work, and look what those people accomplished.

We can affect change.