Facts and Fiction Regarding Mental Health Stigma
FICTION: Dealing with a mental health challenge is a sign of weakness.
FACT: Many successful and powerful people live with mental health challenges, including politicians, athletes, and business leaders.
FICTION: You can’t feel stigma towards yourself for your mental health challenges.
FACT: When we judge ourselves negatively for living with mental health challenges, we call it internalized stigma. Internalized stigma can often prevent us from seeking support.
FICTION: Stigma is not a big deal and people should just get over it.
FACT: Stigma prevents many people from talking about mental health concerns and seeking help. Unfortunately, this can lead to worsened mental health and overall functioning.
FICTION: There is nothing that can be done about the stigma regarding mental health.
FACT: There are actually multiple ways to reduce mental health stigma. Research suggests that stigma related to mental health challenges can be reduced by educating others about mental health challenges, connecting with others about mental health problems, hearing about the mental health challenges of influential people, and setting legislation and policy to reduce stigma. (Shahwan S, Goh CMJ, Tan GTH, Ong WJ, Chong SA, Subramaniam M. Strategies to Reduce Mental Illness Stigma: Perspectives of People with Lived Experience and Caregivers. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jan 31;19(3):1632. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031632.)