[MotownJohnny]

Notice the difference in the questions:

Is stigma accepted, in other words, an acceptable practice, by society?

Do you as a person with a mental health issue accept stigma upon yourself, in other words, do you feel bad about yourself in any way because of your condition?

For the longest time, I felt like my breakdown was both a grave failure of my character and morality, and the way it was received and reacted to was my punishment for that failure.

I no longer feel that way. I did absolutely nothing which resulted in any level of harm to another living person save for some inconvenience and concern. I came very close to harming myself. While suicide certainly can have serious collateral damage to those around the deceased, the act in itself is not harmful to others in a physical sense (hopefully), at least if not done in a respectful and cautious manner. (not talking about wild scenarios here, just a "typical" act done in private).

I think that the industry of mental health pushes the view that mental illness is a medical issue and not a character flaw or moral failure. I believe that to be true. I think we all deserve for that to be true, as well.

So, not that you asked, but this is what I think. I think that our society is stinking rotten with stigma about mental illness that is still accepted in a way that racism, sexism, and homophobia are no longer accepted. And, I think lip service is paid to doing a lot of things, from improving access to mental health services to anti-discrimination initiatives, but I don't see that it has done that much to really combat the problem.

I know everyone has their own feelings and approach, but I have hung out on this and other MH forums enough to know that many people are very cautions and reserved about who they share their situation with.

And I find that very sad. If MI is a health condition, why should anyone have to be ashamed of it? Are people ashamed of heart disease or diabetes? Should they be?

I find it incredulous in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century that people will MI can be still treated so poorly.

And honestly, I think that the MH community should look to the GLBT community for inspiration. They have moved acceptance so far in a few decades. I remember how horribly "shameful" the coming out episode of Ellen Degeneres' show was considered by so many people in 1997. Now things are so much more open and accepted. Not perfect, but so much better.

I think people with mental illness deserve better, too.

Did you "do anything wrong" to get yourself diagnosed? No? Then why accept being treated like you did?

I'm done with all of this. If people can't accept me for who and what I am, I don't need them in my life. If they want to make a fight out of it, so be it, I'm ready for that, too.

[glok]

Hello, MotownJohnny. It is what it is. Life is unfair. Like the song says, I never promised you a rose garden. Too, the Serenity Prayer comes to mind.

I refuse to let others define me. I will carry on.

[Open Eyes]

I think you have very good points Mowtown. I have been struggling with this in ways myself too.

I didn't do anything wrong when I developed PTSD, I developed it because of the wrongs that others did that hurt me. I was misdiagnosed like you were, again, not my fault but
because I trusted the wrong people, people who ignored all the clear red flags I was expressing, again not my fault.

I wanted to use it in my case too. I have been told how it would not be a good idea because it would put me and everything about my on trial, make private things "public" too. I was willing to do that to prove again I did nothing wrong, but the one thing that has held me back is how "others" would be hurt, others who do not deserve to be hurt IMHO. Unfortunately, the opposing side just wont care about that either and to me, that is where "justice is blind".

I wish I did have a chance to present that because now, I could prove what happened to me is "wrong" and that there are other things that happened to me that were also wrong, I was treated badly it is was not my fault either.

It isn't so much a "stigma" Mowtown as it is a lack of education in our society. People often think of PTSD as "Oh, isn't that the thing vets get?" and that is all they know about it.

In my session this week I was really struggling and my therapist stopped me and said,"OE do you see what you are doing right now"? I was not sure what he was going to say next. He said, "What you are doing right now is how people with PTSD struggle", he said, sadly it is often misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, when it is not and I wanted you to stop and notice it. He also discussed what happened to me in the psych ward too. He told me that my symptoms were misunderstood, not my fault, I said all the right things, but I was in crisis and my desperation and anger was misunderstood which lead to a misdiagnosis, and, unfortunately there needs to be efforts to teach the staff and professionals in these places what they are missing when a trauma patient in crisis is presented to them.

He explained how the "system" is broken and there is a lack in may places to offer patients "quality" care, and that means people are suffering and not being "helped".

However, it "is" important to realize that in just the past 10 years alone we have gained a better understanding of different mental health challenges, yet, we still have much to learn too.

When I think about what I went through, my family should have been informed and even treated themselves. My husband broke too and at that time we simply could not afford to reach out for help because the way we earned money to pay for our health insurance was destroyed.

Well, just wanted to say, "I hear you" and the stigmatizing of those who struggle with MI should not take place, we need to educate society.

OE

[Hellion]

It would seem stigma is alive and well....especially if you are unfortunate enough to be unable to work or unable to work a sufficient amount to make a livable income due to said mental health issue. Then god forbid you burden the taxpayers who actually 'earn' their money.

I try my best not to accept stigma but with so much of it floating around essentially everywhere, its very hard not to feel like a worthless piece of crap, especially when I already fight that on a daily basis just due to how I feel with the depression bringing me down even without being exposed to any stigma.

[ChipperMonkey]

An acceptable practice by society? NEVER.

Do I feel bad about myself because of my condition? I think we ALL do, to an extent, whether or not we want to admit it. It REALLY helps me to externalize my condition. I have PTSD due to childhood sexual abuse, so I think of how I view others with PTSD, and I have nothing but the utmost sense of compassion for these people. I can then transfer that sense of care to myself and it helps me to realize that I shouldn't take on the hatred, misunderstanding, and fear of society. I refuse to do it.

[Sometimes psychotic]

I've been very open with people about my psychosis and other than psych nurses I haven't had stigma from friends,dates, coworkers or even my boss. The mental health professionals are actually the worst....unfortunately what they've shown so that for psychosis increased knowledge ie being a doctor with more training actually leads to more stigma not less. I think it helps if you yourself don't consider it a thing and you explain simply rather than using clinical terms...ie sometimes I hear voices...usually they find it fascinating and want to know more about what it's like.

[Foreign_Soul]

Stigma is definitely alive and well! I cannot begin to count the number of people who have treated me badly because of their own assumptions of what mental illness actually is.
Most recently I've been verbally attacked, repeatedly, by someone who is medicated but has no real understanding of MI. She honestly thinks it's as simple as taking a pill and "getting over it". It's caused serious issues in my relationship (she is my fiancé's friend and her attacks have been in regard to our relationship) because I won't sit back and take it. As the OP said:

Originally Posted by MotownJohnny

If people can't accept me for who and what I am, I don't need them in my life. If they want to make a fight out of it, so be it, I'm ready for that, too.

[A Red Panda]

Stigma about mental illness is rampant. I find it rather disgusting what society is capable of.

If I see people making dumbass statements, I call them on it and correct them. But I don't disclose my diagnosis with many people. I would, as I'm not ashamed of it. But I'm a teacher in a small community, so word would spread and all the uneducated people (and there's a lot of closeminded people in this community) would know and it would most likely make my job a lot more stressful. If I worked in a less-public job, I'd be completely open about it.

And it pisses me right off that I can't safely be open about it.

Everyone in my personal life knows. Except my family. But that's cause of other issues and I don't really tell them anything at all about my life!

[birdpumpkin]

I've been suffering a lot of anxiety and ptsd symptoms since our fire 6 months ago. I don't have any close friends but talk to some people on social media. I'm very open about it. The question I hate is, "How are you doing??" I know they're wanting to hear fine, but I actually tell them. "I've had a lot of anxiety lately and have felt pretty down," or something or other I'll answer them with. And it bugs me that I usually don't get a response back when a kind word would be appreciated, and I know I would give someone a kind word and encouragement if I were given the same response. It's just like they disappear. They don't want to deal with that. If I had told them I was just great, the conversation would probably continue.