Do you suffer from migraines? Then perhaps you can relate to this overview of one sufferer’s personal account of living with pain, dealing with stigma, and finding a treatment.
A look at the stigma around mental illness – particularly in my home country of Ireland.
Are there ways in which American citizens can work on a regular basis, often merely through language changes, to decrease the stigma against the mentally ill? Yes.
Do your clients view themselves as mentally ill as their primary identifier, or is the mental illness merely another variable?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, classified as a developmental disorder, not a personality disorder, is certainly the cause of great debate, as more and more children are diagnosed and treated for this. ADHD is also, interestingly enough, a disorder in which the reverse could be said- rather than more children being diagnosed, we now see more adults, and even into middle or later generations, receiving their initial diagnosis and treatment for ADHD or ADD. And yet scores of American’s continue to protest both the additon of the diagnostic label and the treatment with medication for this neurobehavioral disorder.
Mental illness does not happen only to an unknown person across the country, it occurs in every extended family, in every neighborhood, across all walks of life. The face of mental illness isn’t only that of the homeless person on the street; it may be that of your sister, your child’s teacher, your pastor, or the face you see in the mirror each morning.
The mentally ill, while comprising a large portion of society, are treated as less than human, with fewer rights and greater penalties for the effects of their brain chemistry.
