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Most of you know that my “day job” is as an Extension Specialist and professor at UGA, focusing on well-being and mental health. That means I get to study all sorts of interesting things and think about ways to help people live happier, healthier lives.
Lately I’ve been doing some work on stigma and mental health. Stigma is a thing where we as a society stereotype someone who is different from us, then conjure up all sorts of negative beliefs about them, judge them, and keep our distance from them out of fear or disapproval.
Stigma happens a lot around mental health. People with depression or anxiety are labeled “weak” or “crazy” and folks look at them differently and avoid them. People who have mental health symptoms don’t get help because they are afraid of this stigma and would rather suffer in silence than get judged.
In my work I found out that the word stigma comes from ancient Greece, and meant to carve or mark as a sign of shame, punishment or disgrace. Slaves and criminals would be stigmatized–tattooed or branded so that everyone knew their low status. The marks were forever, so they could never escape.
When I think about this, it is sort of a gut punch for me. When someone is in pain from a mental health issue and our society stigmatizes them, it’s just like we are branding them. We give them a “mark” and they can never escape it, never get help, and never get back to health and well-being.
So, let’s stop the stigma. If we hear someone making a judgmental comment about a person who is struggling with their mental health, let’s lovingly correct them. Let’s say that everyone at some point in their life has a mental health challenge, and that people in emotional pain deserve our support, not stigma, not a mark of shame.
No more branding. Let’s belief in health and healing. It’s the only way we can all thrive.