SAY no to mental stigma! Its outdated and thoroughly kindness free!!

With mental illness becoming more prevalent, how long can people keep this attitude up??!!

Wonderin if anyone has ever had a bad experience with someone in the medical depression that you could describe as stigma?

I've met some pillucks of care professionals in my time, so much so their assistance has in balance done nearly as much harm as did good.

Best Wishes and Hpoing everyone is doin' ok! x

[quote name='nhsnotp2scratch' date='Dec 12 2006, 05:25 AM' post='181313']
SAY no to mental stigma! Its outdated and thoroughly kindness free!!

With mental illness becoming more prevalent, how long can people keep this attitude up??!!

Wonderin if anyone has ever had a bad experience with someone in the medical depression that you could describe as stigma?

I've met some pillucks of care professionals in my time, so much so their assistance has in balance done nearly as much harm as did good.

Best Wishes and Hpoing everyone is doin' ok! x
[
/quote]
AMEN! 'nhsnotp2...', Like you, I too wonder how this archaic attitude has lasted as long as it has in these supposedly 'enlightened times' in America and the world over!

In my experience effective medical care and it's availability has not improved a bit for people suffering w/ Depression & other Mental Illnesses in the past several decades. If you doubt it just read the section here for Members Needing Extra Help. So many people have to wait in intense agony weeks, if not a month or longer, to begin a hopefully helpful treatment regime! And then often the first several meds do not work & may make people feel even worse.

The impact on the families and the sufferer's in huge and often has years long consequences as many are not well enough to work or care for children during the interim between crisis and getting effective treatment. The entire family is at risk when a patient is refused timely care, and not only from witnessing the patient suffer or from the suffering person's actions, but b/c jobs are often lost, children taken away, regretable & unnecessary anger is expressed by everyone due to the lack of help, etc.

We all have our tales of STIGMA, I'm sure. I have a few, however I am too vulnerable to discuss them now as I am in a med shuffle/switch and Anxiety is running high!

I do hope for a better tomorrow for everyone suffering today.

I couldn't agree more. And the worst part of it is that when the medical community/are professioanls are crap, and we don't know its actually the doctors being crap, there must be people who feel like they are stuck like that, ill forever, their hope extinguished somewhat just because of unreliable, untrained, rude, negligent, stupid (and/or of these) individuals/health care systems and the fact they don't accept responsibility when they've messed up, don't inform you what a bad job they are doing, don't apologise when they have made you feel bad, look down at you, give you a kind bedside manner.

Hope v much the meds change goes ok xxxx

Best Wishes x

I understand your frustration with the mental health care in your country. We have many members here from the UK who have had similar experiences with the mental health care system there that have been prolonged and somewhat disasterous. The primary doc there triage you before they refer you on to a psychiatrist or therapist for additional help. In some areas in the UK there are long waiting lists to get mental health treatment unless you go out of the system and pay privately for help.

We have members in Canada who also wait months for mental health services.

We also have members from countries where there are no mental health services and their condition is ignored by medical doctors. Families are used as the only support system and not always very helpful.

Here in The U.S. we have a bit more freedom in receiving mental health services as we have independent insurers. The GPs here also do a bit of triage before referring the patient on to a psychiatrist or psychologist. GPs here can handle some basic depression but anything more complex than that is out of their league. We have competent as well as some incompetent pdocs and tdocs just as any other place may have. My experiences, fortunately, with mental health services I have received has been good. And that is how it should be. However, there are people here who are on welfare or county services and cannot afford to pay for mental health services. That system is very overcrowded and there are not enough p or tdocs willing to accept the poor reimbursement that is paid to them. So, yes, in those cases, the waiting list to see a professional is quite long.

Do medical professionals exude stigma with mental health? In some instances yes. However, with more people seeking treatment, this is breaking down as more and more doctors are having to deal with the fact that people do have real depression or anxiety or whatever that requires treatment.

The general public is now being educated about mental illnesses and that will hopefully break down the stigmas they have attached to mental illness. It wasn't long ago that people thought depression or schizophrenia were contagious diseases and people suffering with those illnesses were locked in institutions. Think of that when you think about mental health care. Mental health treatment has come a long way since the 40s (and earlier) and is trying its best to provide patients what they need in order to heal.
Sheepwoman

ive suffered discrimination from my nursing college =(. and the shock of that discrimination made me very angry and looking to do something about it. I am part of a mental health advocacy organization in the united states called NAMI (national alliance on mental illness) it is the largest grassroots mental health grassroots organization in the country. I am president of a little chapter on my uni campus and we are having a walk in march =)

DOWN WITH STIGMA!!!

<3laura

Sheepwoman

Reading your post has really encouraged me to really remember the positive times I have experienced with support staff/services.
I don't know why but I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment to highlight that a lot of what keeps people depressed sometimes isn't under their control: to remind people that they might be judging themselves too harshly and that people who suffer depression really have a tough one sometimes, compared to some well-funded, not stigmatised ares of medicine/illness.
I have no problem with the care professional community in theory-my beef is that bad treatment is not acknowledged or explained and it seems to be prevalent everywhere in levels.

Your reply also makes me wanna fight stigma and for better treatment even more, for people who have no services to rely on.

Thanks for the reply and all the information!:)xx

Go Grll! :)

xxx

Cinnamona66

You are doin such a positive thing! I'm really inspired by your advocacy group and the work building road blocks in discrimination!

GO GIRRRLLL!!!!!!

Eve123, Sheepwoman and Cinnamona66,

Yes:

Down with stigma!![u]

Lets fight for a time where nobody gets left behind!!:)..

---YOU GUYS ROCK!!!---

losso luv

nhsnotptoscratch

=)
i think part of the stigma is that people with mental illness also stigmatize the illnesses.. all the shame of it.. hide hide hide.. hide your meds.. dont tell anyone you are taking them.. they will think you are crazy..they wont respect you.. they will treat you with kid gloves worrying that you will explode.

im very open with my illness. most of my friends know im taking meds.. many of my friends know ive suffered with various eating disorders..i talk about them..and some of my friends have learned so much about mental illness from me as they had never really gotten to discuss it with someone who suffers with it.

the GLBT (gays lesbians bisexuals transexuals) are running out of the closet and it is becoming so much more accepted and im ready to jump out of closet too.

(im totally not saying that any variation of heterosexuality is an illness)

This post has been edited by Lindsay: Dec 22 2006, 11:39 PM

I've met plenty of doctors, but so far the stigma has been mostly from friends. This one girl completely stopped talking to me after I mentioned I was depressed.

This post has been edited by Lindsay: Dec 22 2006, 11:37 PM

Hi, new here, and think I could relate so many experiences where I was stigmatized, either regarding my Depression, Social Phobia or Panic Attack Disorder, that my fingers would be numb from typing.

And yes, it becomes a "symptom" itself, or rather the fear of it drastically affects the choices I make every single day.

Lets see... shortly after qualifying for my disability pension I had to visit a clinic for a prescription refill on my tranquilizers as my regular doctor was not available. The doctor was young, male, Asian, friendly and efficient. He asked me, " but how exactly do these conditions prevent you from working?" Maybe not a 'stigma' story exactly, but a story that shows how misunderstood these conditions are by some physicians, and I believe it's misunderstanding that leads to stigmatization.

Then about two years ago I was experiencing these strange, aggravating "pin-P**k" sensations all over my body, which made it impossible to sleep. At first mistaking it for a skin related problem I tried all sorts of remedies. Then moved onto insect bites? Something small, like mites ( I had an outdoor cat who hunted ), and washed everything in the house. Finally, I'd had enough, couldn't get into to see my family doctor soon enough so again, went to a clinic hoping they could shed some light on it. When the doctor there heard what medications I was taking - an antidepressant and a tranquilizer- he became extremely patronizing. He began talking to me slower and adopted a tone as though speaking to a child while he told me, " it was just my nerves" and if I went home and tried to relax - he suggested a hot bath - it would likely subside! I wanted to shake him. Through keeping a journal and watching recurrences of this condition, I've discovered it occurs whenever I double up on the tranquilizers for too many days in a row. That is, when I force myself to do to much at once. The effects of taking this medication, clonazepam, for over 10 yrs does not seem to be readily known, although I did find one article on the net that described my symptom as an affect of withdrawal from it...

Mmmm.. also, going to emergency once to renew a prescription I had the nerve to question a doctor when I might be seen as I had been sitting in a cubicle for over 5 hours. He yelled at me, " You think this is an emergency?! I'll show you an emergency!!" and stalked off. I had to work that night and was scared to death of having a panic attack while there - I'd lost too many jobs already because of that, and yes, the possibility of losing my job did seem like an emergency to me. I was so embarrassed I just left and cried a little. At work, I drank gin to keep any panic attack at bay. Today I do not drink. But neither do I work.

Well, that's about enough for now.
There are so many instances where the stigma of being who I am keeps me from trying things to get better I can't mention them all here. These are just a few 'medically related' instances where misunderstanding was humiliating.

Hope this makes someone feel better, and not just worse.
Sincerely,
sterling

This post has been edited by sterling: Jan 11 2007, 09:25 PM

Ive also met a lot of crap docs unfortunately! :(

I unfortunately dealt with a schmuck dr. He was our department shrink, and it was mandatory that I see him. I hurt so much worse after being forced to see him.
I just wish people, especially in the medical profession, could be more understanding.

When I told a very close friend, that I loved like a brother and that I'd known for years, that I was bipolar, he got very offish. He eventually told me that he was afraid stuff he might say to me would trigger an episode; and that he felt he had to handle me with kid gloves. I have been bipolar all my life. I had been bipolar all the time he had known me, through all the confidences we had shared. I was the same person I'd been before I told him. It really hurt me.

Dear Cinnamona666,

I have recently come away from a job and living situation where I had bad stigma experiences. It really got me down. Part of what helps to think about getting back on my feet is finding a way to become active in battling the stigma. Do you have any suggestions of what I could do-or how I could get involved with NAMI? Thanks, emsage

Since I was orignally diagnosed 20 years ago I think that the stigma has lessened considerably. Back then there weren't very many antidepressants on the market and I think it was still considered taboo to mention that you had clinical depression. I know admitting that you took medication for depression wasnt something you talked about except in your own family. I cant imagine what it was like for schizophrenia and other disorders. Luckily public education has gotten better over the years. Just my two cents....