Stigma is a damaging force to those struggling with their mental health. It destroys families, friendships, and, for many, the will to persevere. Take a closer look at this destructive phenomenon and misinformation, ignorance, hatred, fear, and frustrations are but a few of the ugly pieces to the puzzle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to deconstruct stigma, examine its components and adjust our attitudes and actions around mental illness. This means re-education, a healthy dose of compassion, and an adjustment in perspective for us all. The \u201cnot in my backyard\u201d mentality is deeply ingrained within our society and desperately needs to be addressed for the sake of our collective sanity.<\/p>\n
For anyone or anything to flourish, nurturing and encouragement is essential, and yet our culture practices a damaging routine based in the shaming of those perceived as lower. Let\u2019s own the fact that it\u2019s common that the rights of others are denied based on a perceived lack of ability, and at the same time acknowledge how incredibly damaging it is to self-worth. How dare anyone deny the right to love, the right to independence, or the right to empowerment?<\/p>\n
That kind of power is not given, but taken.<\/p>\n
The fight against the way of thinking that we each have been taught is painful. It\u2019s incredibly difficult to cultivate a new frame of mind. Imagine a culture of support and understanding over one of divisions and misinterpretation.<\/p>\n
End the lie that is inequality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stigma is a damaging force to those struggling with their mental health. It destroys families, friendships, and, for many, the will to persevere. Take a closer look at this destructive phenomenon and misinformation, ignorance, hatred, fear, and frustrations are but a few of the ugly pieces to the puzzle. It\u2019s time to deconstruct stigma, examine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-june-12-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t