STIGMA ALIVE & WELL

Stigma - Alive and Well

Stigma - Alive and Well

It is human nature to fear what we do not understand. Due to misunderstandings and mistakes made by the media (any news of the cinema for example) to see our society has been distorted, which has created stigma about certain mental illnesses. Definition of stigma: a mark of disgrace or infamy, a stain or reproach, as its reputation.

DEFINITION OF MENTAL ILLNESS-- Any of various conditions characterized by cognitive impairment of a normal individual, emotional or behavioral, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or others, such as infection or head trauma. It is also known as emotional illness, mental illness, mental disorder. Bottom line "dictionary.com is that we all get more educated and stop using our fears as excuses (Herek, Gregory, 1999).

Main Points made by Author

The main point made by author here is that there should be no stigma towards the mental illness and the people who are suffering from it. According to the author there is a continuous stigma in our society against the patients of mental illness. (Herek et.al, 1999)

It's time to end this stigma and all the misconceptions that go along with it.

When someone in a family is diagnosed with a mental illness, like with any other diseases the entire family is overwhelmed and scared, but the stigma adds an extra stress. The family is concerned for their family member's reputation so they are nervous to tell many other people about the real diagnosis because they don't want other people to assume they are crazy.

The family and people dealing with a mental illness should not be embarrassed of the diagnosis because it is biological. This means that it's often due to a chemical imbalance of the brain, which is not the patient's fault.

This chemical ...