Some thoughts on mental illness stigma
These things are both true:
personality disorders (especially but not limited to NPD and ASPD), psychosis, OSDD/DID, and schizophrenia-spectrum conditions are stigmatized in a way that is not just quantitatively but qualitatively different from the stigma surrounding depression and anxiety.
- as an example of this: consider the (inaccurate) idea that mentally ill people commit more violence. when someone says that, who are they thinking of as "the mentally ill"? probably not people who just have depression and anxiety.
- as another example, try googling "depression recovery" and compare the results (mostly information on how to recover from your own depression) to what you get when you google "NPD recovery" (mostly information for people without NPD on why those horrible people ruining your life definitely have NPD, a condition they equate with Evil Abuser Syndrome).
when pointing this out, it's important not to use language that implies that depression or anxiety have no stigma, or are totally accepted, or that their acceptance isn't predicated on ignoring the uglier parts of their reality not only is that not true, it's also bad rhetoric. especially when talking about mental illness, a lot of the audience is going to have experienced depression or anxiety.
- I suspect that people who are actively experiencing depression and/or anxiety may be more likely to interpret that kind of language as a negative remark on them and their experience, due to the cognitive distortions that these illnesses can impose. and that's going to suck for everyone involved. the audience won't absorb the point being made, and they might feel bad about themselves for no reason. lose/lose.
