Fighting the Stigma of Mental Illness

One of the best ways to fight stigma and develop an open mind towards people with mental illness is to get to know someone with mental health problems and discover that the illness is only one aspect of his or her life.

Another way is to speak up when friends, family or the media use language that discriminates against people on the basis of mental health problems.

Here are some common signs of prejudice:

• stereotyping people with mental illness (treating them as a group rather than as individuals)
• trivializing or belittling people with mental illness and/or the illness itself
• offending people with mental illness through insults
• patronizing people with mental illness by treating them as less worthy than other people
• reinforcing common myths about people with mental illness: for example, saying they are dangerous, weak, beyond hope, etc.
• labelling people by their diagnosis; the concept of the person as an individual is lost, and the illness is the only relevant characteristic when terms such as paranoid schizophrenic, manic depressive and bulimic are used
• using slang words such as "insane," "schizo" and "psycho," which are often used in news headlines to grab readers' attention
• sensationalizing or accentuating myths about mental illness: for example, a headline such as "Psychotic Bear Kills Camper" links wild animal behaviour with mental illness

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Reference:

Stigma and discrimination around mental health and substance abuse problems: http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/factsheet/stigma-and-discrimination-around-mental-health-and-substance-use-problems