Stigma term is used when a person views you differently or negatively because of a particular attribute that you possess, be it skin color, hair color, personality trait, or mental illness.
They judge you on the basis of your mental illness but don’t see you individually.
In basic terms, it is discrimination against mental illness.
It is due to the stigma created around us that we hold ourselves back and don’t ask for help.
Harmful effects of stigma
• Feeling shy and showing reluctance to ask for help for their mental illness
• It may discourage them and make it difficult for them to recover as stigma affects your mental health even more
• Feeling hopelessness or depression
• Sense of bullying or harassment by outside people
• Not enough acceptance by their family members
• Getting rejected in jobs or being treated differently
• Feeling of self-doubt and self-pity thinking that you will never recover and will fail.
How to deal with the stigma
• Don’t believe it: one should understand how other people’s opinion is not enough for you to judge yourself or feel bad for yourself. Stigma or discrimination is highly unacceptable and has no social basis. One should understand that mental illness is completely normal. It is not a sign of weakness or self-pity. Try to not indulge in other people’s opinions and ignore them.
• Get the help you need: Just because of the stigma and discrimination faced by other people we cannot stop living our life. Just like how we go to a doctor for the fever to get help similarly we should get our mental illness treated as well. It is a disease too. Get the help you require before
the condition gets worse.
• Share your thoughts: Connect with others who you feel are understanding of your mental health and mental illness. Being in a positive environment will only help you and do you good rather than being in a negative environment. Share your feelings about stigma with your friends, family, or the people you trust.
• It’s not personal: One’s judgment on you is only because of a lack of understanding or education about an issue. It is their problem to not be socially ethical and indulging in social and mental stigma. Society will tend to bring you down or say a lot of things to you however, it is on
you how you take it or get influenced by it.
• Don’t hide it: at last, we should understand that there is nothing wrong with going through a
certain illness.