STIGNORANCE: The Battle between Mental Health, Stigma & the Need for Advocacy
Robin Williams suicide has been one of the saddest momentums for people who suffer from a mental illness condition to raise awareness. Newspaper headlines and, especially social media posts and discussions, developed from mourning a beloved comedian to a deeper discussion about suicide, mental illness and stigma. On that day, I believe many of us can recall the considerable number of virtual friends who posted about a human being who dedicated his entire life to make people laugh, even when he was crying a river inside.
The comedians’ cause of death revitalized debate and controversy on suicides’ most paradigmatic labels: SELFISH, WEAK, COWARD. The sad truth is that most people who haven’t suffered from a mental health-related condition, a depressive and/or anxiety episode satanic suicide simply because they are completely unaware of the causes of suicide.
That unawareness is one of the many manifestations of mental health related stigma, but what does stigma actually mean? Stigma can be categorized in many different categories, but in essence it is understood as a negative perception of a particular group of people. That paradigmatic perception, that I would like to call “stignorance”, is powerful enough to cause direct or indirect harm to those individuals or groups. Some common targets are ethnic minorities, social or cultural minorities, and many others.
People who suffer from Mental Health conditions one particularly sensitive target of stigma. Mental Health-related stigma possesses a significant impact on the development of over a billion young individuals in the pursuit of social and economic integration, including employability. Stigma produces shame and fear of rejection, I personally have experienced the lonely battle of hiding my bipolar disorder to “survive” in Ecuador, a developing country where mental health discrimination is present everywhere.
This is why I believe that raising awareness about Stigma and Mental Health,
and the first step has to come from us, by sharing our stories and work on solutions and generate a UNION for global dialogue concerning the necessary strategies for addressing the challenges faced by the overarching pursuit of increasing social integration, career opportunities and the right to receive affordable professional treatment. If we don’t raise our voices, no one else is gonna do it for us!
