I’ve written before about defunding the police as a way to address the mismatch between the standard police approach and appropriate mental health crisis response. The picture below from a “wellness check” is a good illustration of just how significant that mismatch is. In June of this year, information became public about an incident that […]
A Police Wellness Check Gone Wrong Read More »
Public stigma, involving prejudice and discrimination from outsiders that are directed at us, is damaging enough as it is. But sometimes, that stigma gets internalized into self-stigma, an unpleasant gift that keeps on giving. How self-stigma develops Researchers Patrick Corrigan (my academic crush) and Amy Watson described three broad types of reactions by people who
How Self-Stigma Happens in Mental Illness Read More »
While I know that people tend to be somewhat skeptical of statistics, I thought it would still be interesting to explore some of the stats that are out there related to mental illness. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) These figures come from CAMH in Toronto, Canada, on their Facts and statistics page. Mental
Some Concerning Statistics on Mental Illness Disability & Stigma Read More »
They may not be politically correct, but terms like “psycho killers” and “psychotic killers” get tossed around rather freely. Sometimes people will assume that to do horrific things people must have a mental illness. But is that accurate? It’s not, but that kind of misconception may originate from a few different mistaken assumptions. Psychosis One
Are “Psycho Killers” Psychotic? Read More »
Just to get things started, I’ll say that I’m “mentally ill”, I “suffer from” depression, and I’m a little bit “crazy”, although the degree varies over time. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, there are a lot of people who like to take a stand against terminology that is thought to stigmatize
“Rules” for Talking About Our Mental Illnesses Read More »
The idea of labelling people as attention-seeking is not unique to mental illness, but it’s certainly something that seems to come up an awful lot. The labellers might be friends and family, but unfortunately, they may also be health care providers. One of the labels that comes up regularly is “attention-seeking.” Physical manifestations of mental
The “Attention-Seeking” Label and the Stigma It Represents Read More »
“Drug-seeking.” “Med-seeking.” They’re labels with very negative connotations, but health care providers often use them to refer to patients taking medications with the potential for abuse. Yet isn’t anyone going to see their doctor for a prescription seeking out drugs? Why is seeking medications okay in some instances but not in others? If “medication compliance”
“Drug-Seeking”: Health Professional Labelling of Patients Read More »
This post about public views on suicide was inspired by a conversation I’ve been having with Dear Walden about research on suicide. In 2013, a group of Australian researchers developed and validated a scale to evaluate public views on suicide, which they named the Stigma of Suicide Scale. For each item on the scale, participants would
Suicide Stigma: What the Research Says About Public Views Read More »
NIMBYism is a fascinating phenomenon. NIMBYs, who think that something is okay as long as it’s Not In My BackYard, cover discrimination with a thin veneer of civility and acceptability. Among the many manifestations of this is with regards to social housing, including supported housing for people with mental illness. The NIMBY arguments NIMBYs’ arguments
NIMBYism and Resistance to Mental Health Housing Read More »
As a nurse in my province (British Columbia, Canada), if I am hospitalized for mental illness then the provincial Health Professions Act requires the hospital to report me to the nursing regulatory college, and the college must treat this as a complaint about my fitness to practice. This ends up with being offered the non-choice
The Health Professions Act and the Fight Against Stigma Read More »
