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 »
I saw a post recently by another blogger about stigmatizing language that people should avoid. One of the things he mentioned was “committed suicide,” which is something that comes up regularly in discussions of language use related to suicide. I’m not convinced that it needs to be as big an issue as people make it
“Committed Suicide”: Word Policing of Suicide-Related Language Read More »
Shame Ate My Soul is Susan Walz’s personal story of rising above stigma, suicide attempts, addiction, and misdiagnosis, and eventually finding recovery. I’ve known Sue since the beginning of my blogging journey. The book opens with a heartbreaking conversation with 2 of her 3 children, as they tried to persuade her to accept help in
Book Review: Shame Ate My Soul 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 »
“Happiness is a choice.” It’s a message that you probably come across fairly often. While it’s probably meant to be motivational and positive most of the time, if you start to poke at it a bit, it has some fundamental flaws. I believe that happiness is not a choice, at least not when something like
Happiness Is Not a Choice Read More »
The wounded healer interview series features people who’ve dealt with significant mental health challenges, and who also work in a helping role to support the mental health of others. This interview is with Wrae Sanders of One Blog, One Day at a Time. 1) Tell us a bit about you, the helping field you’re in,
Wounded Healer Interview: Wrae Sanders Read More »
In this emerging blogger post, HealthComesFirst!!! Blogger writes about the stigma around bipolar disorder. I have often felt that the stigma associated with bipolar illness is as big if not bigger (twice as big) than dealing with the illness itself. Every time there is a school shooting or a gun incident or a drug cartel
Bipolar Stigma (Guest Post) Read More »
I’ve seen ableism being mentioned on Twitter a number of times lately. Aside from the obvious meaning, I wasn’t familiar with it in a mental health context. This post will explore what ableism means for people with psychiatric disabilities. Defining ableism An article on the Center for Disability Rights website describes ableism this way: “Ableism
Ableism: The Assumptions People Make About Disability 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 »
