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Simple Tools to Overcome Everyday Mental Illness Discrimination
When does stigma turn into discrimination? Mental illness stigmas are negative attitudes and assumptions about people living with mental health problems, including the damaging and inappropriate stereotypes that we are dangerous, incapable, or socially undesirable. As someone living openly with...
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Disasters: The Importance of Fighting Mental Health Stigma
The last few decades have seen a steady increase in disasters around the world. Whether caused by humans or nature, for many communities disasters occur with such frequency that they overlap each other. The traditional Phases of Disaster model–anticipation, impact, adaptation, and recovery...
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Shame and Hunger: Breaking the Stigma Through Lived Experiences
In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that 33.8 million Americans are food insecure. These individuals do not have access to enough food to meet the needs of their household; thus, they must employ various coping strategies to stretch the food they can acquire. Yet,...
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Overcoming Self-Stigma in Bipolar Disorder: A Targeted Intervention for an Urgent Problem
For many with bipolar disorder, as well as other mental health conditions, stigma remains a real and regular burden in everyday life. In addition to the stressors and difficulties of the condition, the experience of stigma can lead to a host of deleterious outcomes including lower self-esteem,...
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Countering Stigma – Speaking as if Our Words Matter
There are now several identified strategies that can help address stigma toward populations with behavioral health challenges. Some involve providing public education. Some involve the addition of addiction and mental health‑related curricula to educational institutions and training programs for...
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The Ways That Stigma Hurts People Who Use Substances and How to Help
Stigma hurts, when stigmatizing language is used against those with substance use disorders. In a study by the Recovery Research Institute,1 314 survey respondents were asked to answer questions about two individuals who were using substances. The only difference in the way that the individuals...
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Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Illness: Changing Minds and Creating Opportunities
What can be done to overcome the stigma of mental illness? Because stigma is generally understood as a concatenation of negative attitudes and beliefs, community mental health education designed to change people’s minds seems to be what is needed. But there is another way to think about stigma -...
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Overcoming Stigma Through Education and Capacity Building in Communities
Social Stigma, according to Wikipedia, is the disapproval of, or is discrimination against, an individual or identifiable group of people based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Stigma can negatively affect the emotional, mental, and...
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Art: A Tool for Breaking Stigma
While the reasons for stigma around mental illness are complex and vary by community – we know its prevalence prevents many from seeking treatment – from finding help and building a better life. At the Institute for Community Living (ICL), we offer an array of support services for people...
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Modeling Compassion to Reduce Mental Health Stigma
I grew up believing that I lived in a perfect family, including my grandparents’ generation. In a way, this provided a sense of safety and positivity in my world. As I grew older, I came to know about relatives who struggled with depression and anxiety. I also learned of individual and family...
