The authors analyzed 695 news items. The content of 47.9% (n = 333) of the articles was not strictly related to mental illness, but rather clinical or psychiatric terms were used metaphorically, and frequently in a pejorative sense. The remaining 52.1% (n = 362) consisted of news items related specifically to mental illness. Of these, news items linking mental illness to danger were the most common (178 texts, 49.2%), specifically those associating mental illness with violent crime (130 texts, 35.9%) or a danger to others (126 texts, 34.8%). The results confirm the hypothesis that the press treats mental illness in a manner that encourages stigmatization. The authors appeal to the press's responsibility to society and advocate an active role in reducing the stigma towards mental illness.Reinforcing Stigmatization: Coverage of Mental Illness in Spanish Newspapers. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives. Volume 19, Issue 11, 2014

~ Enric Aragonès

Enric Aragonès Media Distortion Media Distortions Media Manipulation Mental Illness Prejudice Steroetype Stigma

Here I want to stress that perception of losing one’s mind is based on culturally derived and socially ingrained stereotypes as to the significance of symptoms such as hearing voices, losing temporal and spatial orientation, and sensing that one is being followed, and that many of the most spectacular and convincing of these symptoms in some instances psychiatrically signify merely a temporary emotional upset in a stressful situation, however terrifying to the person at the time. Similarly, the anxiety consequent upon this perception of oneself, and the strategies devised to reduce this anxiety, are not a product of abnormal psychology, but would be exhibited by any person socialized into our culture who came to conceive of himself as someone losing his mind.

~ Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman Asylum Madness Mental Health Stigma Mental Hospital Stereotypes Stigma Stigmatization Stigmatized

We have a genuine and devastating epidemic of opiate abuse in this country, and it is of critical importance that this problem be addressed. But we must do so in a way that doesn’t cut off an effective (and often the only) treatment for the chronically ill, many of whom are able to function in this world at all only because of the small respite that responsible opiate use provides.

~ Michael Bihovsky

Michael Bihovsky Addiction Chronic Illness Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Chronically Ill Epidemic Medical Neglect Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use Pain Management Pain Relief Stigma

Despite the growing clinical and research interest in dissociative symptoms and disorders, it is also true that the substantial prevalence rates for dissociative disorders are still disproportional to the number of studies addressing these conditions. For example, schizophrenia has a reported rate of 0.55% to 1% of the normal population (Goldner, Hus, Waraich, & Somers, more or less similar to the prevalence of DID. Yet a PubMed search generated 25,421 papers on research related to schizophrenia, whereas only 73 publications were found for DID-related research.

~ Paul H. Blaney

Paul H. Blaney Dissociative Disorders Dissociative Identity Disorder Dsm Funding Mental Health Mental Health Stigma Multiple Personality Disorder Psychiatry Research Split Personality Stigma

The stigmatization and the excruciating pains of social alienationhave compelled most victims to conceal their status while themalevolent ones continue to distribute the virus free of charge tounsuspecting men and women

~ Oche Otorkpa

Oche Otorkpa Aids Free Hiv Paba Pain Plwha Stigma Stigmatization

The spurned diagnosisShameBy shame, I have in mind the terrible, at times unfathomable, feeling of being outcast from human society, of being shunned and spurned, of being wanted by no one, and having no one who empathizes with you (Lynd 1958). Part of this experience of shame is the focus on the inadequacies of oneself in the eyes of others and oneself, and of feeling mortified, wanting to disappear, to hide inside a crack in the wall (Lewis 1971).

~ Elizabeth Howell

Elizabeth Howell Dissociative Identity Disorder Shame Stigma

Guilt is one side of a nasty triangle, the other two are shame and stigma. This grim coalition combines to inculpate women themselves of the crimes committed against them.

~ Germaine Greer

Germaine Greer Shame Society Denial Stigma Victim Blaming

Every time you feel like mocking a person you disagree with politically by implying that they are mentally ill, I want you to instead imagine you are talking to every single person who actually is mentally ill and telling them they are worthless. That's how it makes mentally ill people feel. Doesn't seem very progressive now does it?

~ Ariel Howland

Ariel Howland Crazy Labelling Mental Disorder Mental Disorder Bias Mental Health Stigma Mental Illness Discrimination Mentally Disturbed Mocking Politics Prejudice Progressive Stigma Stigmatization Stigmatized Worthlessness

Imagine you’re diagnosed with epilepsy: what would you think if you weren’t referred to a specialist but taken to a psychiatrist to treat you for your ‘false illness beliefs’?This is what happens to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) patients in the UK. They are told to ignore their symptoms, view themselves as healthy, and increase their exercise. The NHS guidelines amalgamate ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, assuming symptoms are caused by deconditioning and ‘exercise phobia’. Sufferers are offered Graded Exercise to increase fitness, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to rid them of their ‘false illness beliefs’.

~ Tanya Marlow

Tanya Marlow Chronic Fatigue Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Chronic Illness Stigma False Assumptions False Beliefs Graded Exercise Illness Stigma Medical Malpractice Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Prejudice Stigma Unethical Treatment

The age-old, seemingly inexorable process whereby diseases acquire meanings (by coming to stand for the deepest fears) and inflict stigma is always worth challenging, and it does seem to have more limited credibility in the modern world, among people willing to be modern - the process is under surveillance now. With this illness, one that elicits so much guilt and shame, the effort to detach it from these meanings, these metaphors, seems particularly liberating, even consoling. But the metaphors cannot be distanced just by abstaining from them. They have to be exposed, criticized, belabored, used up.

~ Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag Aids Disease Metaphor Stigma

At times I am flabbergasted that my memory is considered false and my alcoholic father's memory is considered rational and sane. Am I not believed because I am a woman? If Peter Freyd were a man who lived in my neighborhood during my childhood instead of my father, would he and his wife be so believable? If not, what is it about his status as my father that makes him more credible?

~ Jennifer J. Freyd

Jennifer J. Freyd Abuse Survivor Child Sexual Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Crazy Making Emotional Abuse False Memories False Memory False Memory Myth False Memory Syndrome False Memory Syndrome Campaign False Memory Syndrome Foundation False Memory Syndrome Society Gender Bias Gender Inequality Gender Inequality Quotes Gender Stereotypes Incest Parental Abuse Parental Authority Patriarchy Rape Culture Rape Of A Child Sexism Society Denial Stigma Survivor Survivors Of Abuse

Some people have the experience of being accused of lying when they do not think that they have lied. Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.[question from the Dissociative Experiences Scale]

~ Frank W. Putnam

Frank W. Putnam Diagnosis Dissociative Dissociative Identity Disorder Liar Lying Multiple Personality Disorder Pathological Lying Stigma

...it really struck me that, just as people might look at me and never imagine I'd worked as a prostitute, they must look at some of those girls and see only the alienation and disaffection that hides their on fears and hurt.

~ Sophie Hayes

Sophie Hayes Alienation Disaffection Prostitution Stereotyping Stigma Teenagers

We are stronger than stigma, but until more celebrity role models openly discuss mental illness we will still be stereotyped as less than capable, by an upside down world that thinks reality television is actually normal behavior.

~ Shannon L. Alder

Shannon L. Alder Bias Bringchange2Mind Com Cruelty Discrimination Stereotyping Stigma

Although stigmatizing attitudes are not limited to mental illness, the public seems to disapprove persons with psychiatric disabilities significantly more than persons with related conditions such as physical illness (34-36). Severe mental illness has been likened to drug addiction, prostitution, and criminality (37,38). Unlike physical disabilities, persons with mental illness are perceived by the public to be in control of their disabilities and responsible for causing them (34,36). Furthermore, research respondents are less likely to pity persons with mental illness, instead reacting to psychiatric disability with anger and believing that help is not deserved (35,36,39).World Psychiatry. 2002 Feb; 1(1): 16–20.PMCID: PMC1489832Understanding the impact of stigma on people with mental illnessPATRICK W CORRIGAN and AMY C WATSON

~ Patrick W. Corrigan

Patrick W. Corrigan Bias Blame Blamed Disabilities Disability Quotes Disabled Disabled Veterans Discrimination Fear Mental Health Stigma Stereotyped Prejudices Stigma Stigmatization Stigmatized