Mental Health Stigma's Effect on Our Personal Stories

I recently read a blog written for Healthy Minds Canada, titled Getting Bad Again and this made me realize how much mental health stigma affects our personal stories. The piece, written by Emma Holden, broached a subject I find myself dwelling on. What she wrote about was how as bloggers, as writers, and as people dealing with mental health issues, we tend to only discuss things in the past tense. We talk about that time we were sick, but how now we’re in a much better place. In her post, she says, “It’s a lot harder to open up and admit something you are currently dealing with.”¹

I agree. I also think there are pretty distinct reasons as to why: mental health stigma affects our personal stories.

Personally, I think the most evident reason we often speak about our mental health from a recovery perspective is because our minds are clearer. Hindsight, it is said, is 20/20, something which applies in this case as well. When we’re in the throws of our struggles, our minds are usually in turmoil. It’s more difficult to see past the negative thoughts, the pain, the chaos and whatever else is happening in our brains. We’re just so wrapped up in whatever disorder we’re dealing with that it’s hard to see anything beyond that existence, never mind trying to put that experience into words to share.

Mental Health Stigma Silences Our Stories

Another reason I think we tend not to speak about our struggles in the present is because of the ever-existent stigma. In particular, when we are struggling, stigma can be hugely powerful and silencing. We’re already dealing with our own inner bedlam, probably even fighting self-stigmatizing thoughts, and having someone outside “confirm” that what you’re feeling is wrong or weak or whatever other nonsense they can come up with is a blow to what little strength we have left (How To Deal With Mental Health Stigma).

Not to mention, it is just downright exhausting to deal with the ignorance a lot of the time. True, it’s exhausting to deal with what’s going on within us, too, but at least that’s contained. At least that’s something only we know about and only we deal with, rather than having the addition of an external opinion of “snap out of it,” “you could get better if you tried” or “I don’t want to hear about it” weighing down on us (What Not To Say To Someone With A Mental Illness).

We, unfortunately, live in a society where it’s much easier to shut someone down than to lift them up. We live in a society where people can’t be bothered to take a second out of their day to pass on a kind word or offer some support.

Sometimes it’s because people are dealing with their own struggles and have trouble seeing outside themselves. Sometimes people just feel like they don’t have the means to offer help.

Often, it’s people who don’t know any better because they haven’t educated themselves and would rather brush someone off than learn about mental health issues. Often, it’s a simple matter of not realizing that the brain can get and be sick, too.

If you’ve learned that someone has been struggling, or did struggle, in silence for a long period of time and are wondering why they didn’t just say something, know these things play a huge part in what is vocalized, what is not, and when.

Some Effects of Mental Health Stigma on My Story

For a bit more about mental health stigma and personal stories, including a bit about my own experience, see this video.

You can find Laura on Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, Facebook and her blog; also see her book, Project Dermatillomania: The Stories Behind Our Scars.

Sources

1 Holden, E. (2015, December 4). Getting Bad Again -- Healthy Minds Canada. Retrieved December 9, 2015.

Photo courtesy of IvelinRadkov.