The word stigma comes from a Greek word meaning a mark or tatoo. These marks were of the sort used to brand an animal or slave. People with mental illness are stigmatized in our society in many different ways. A person with mental illness is looked on with distrust or fear. Taking medication for mental illness is considered a sign of weakness. Collecting Social Security Disability pay is thought of as "freeloading." The mentally ill are considered unfit for certain types of jobs. I've been stigmatized nearly my entire adult life for being mentally ill. For most of that time I tried to hide my mental illness. This only served to make the symptoms of the illness worse. It delayed appropriate treatment for years.
I am a teacher by trade. I taught English and Special education for almost twenty years. I have a Master's degree in Education. In the beginning, I was able to teach while hiding my mental illness from my employers and friends. Later, as my symptoms became more pronounced I may have said to my employers that I "just don't handle stress well", or "I'm having a little trouble with depression right now." In the end, I was taking regular medical leaves of absence. Eventually it became clear that I was no longer able to fulfill my duties as a teacher.
I loved teaching. I would still love to teach. It is just no longer an option. Finally I decided to leave teaching and apply for Social Security. I had, after all, paid my hard earned pay into the system for twenty years. It seemed like it would be a simple matter. Right. After another two more years of humiliation at the hands of the Social Security Administration, after being driven into poverty and bankruptcy waiting for my benefits, I was finally awarded disability insurance. As one final insult, however, the judge ordered that my benefits be paid to a "payee" because, he reasoned, my mental illness rendered me incapable of managing my own finances. Just one more example of the stigma and misunderstanding that exists surrounding mental illness.
So, how can I fight the stigma associated with mental illness? I can "come out of the closet." Not just to friends. Not just when it feels convenient to be out. But out in all of my affairs. Out whenever the illness comes up. It means having hard conversations with family members, father-in-laws, church acquaintances, and whoever else comes into my life on either a casual or intimate level.
So, I'll get into how the whole farming concept plays into my recovery as a person with mental illness soon.
Blessings.
For me growing up with a bipolar mother who survived her own (most likely) un-diagnosed bipolar (self medicating with alcohol) mother *the* issue of mental illness is not a stigma of having mental illness but a stigma of knowing what needed to be done to be as healthy as possible and actively choosing to do otherwise. Certainly as a child the actively choosing to not be as healthy as possible made my life crazy, tortured, painful, shameful. As an adult it has taken a LONG time to move past my crazy-making experiences with mental illness and come to a place where I know myself and my personal boundaries. I know I can make choices to be healthy myself and minimize/distance myself from the crazy-making. I know it is NOT my fault.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone with mental illness needs to shout it from the rooftops (well maybe not really). Once we all realize we are not alone, we all know folks with these kind of illnesses, we are not the cause of the mental illness or crazy-making, we have choices. Our choices can begin with compassion and education.
@ Monique, thanks for the great comment. Yes, mental illness, like alcoholism, is a family disease. Everybody gets to play so to speak. I've thought a lot about my illness's effect on my family and look forward to writing about it. Bringing the illness out of the closet and getting educated and providing education can go a long way to healing the person with the mental illness as well as their family members.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked your point about those who choose not to treat their mental illness. Some poeple are in denail, others are afraid of being medicated, and still others just choose not to seek treatment. It is incredibly hard for me personally to be around people with untreated mental illness. It really raises my blood pressure.