Take Action - Fight Stigma

Did you know?

• An estimated 40 million Americans experience a mental disorder in any given year.
• Stigma is not just the use of the wrong word or action.
• Stigma is a barrier and discourages individuals and their families from getting the help they need due to fear of being discriminated against.
• Many people would rather tell employers they have committed a petty crime and were in jail than admit to being in a psychiatric hospital.
• Stigma results in inadequate insurance coverage for mental health services.
• Stigma results in fear, mistrust, and violence against people living with mental illness.
• Stigma results in families and friends turning their backs on people with mental illness.
• Stigma keeps people from getting needed mental health services.

What can you do to fight stigma?

Do's:

• DO use respectful language such as:
• Person who has schizophrenia
• Person with a psychiatric disability
• DO emphasize abilities, not limitations.
• DO tell someone if they express a stigmatizing attitude.

Don'ts:

• DON'T portray successful persons with disabilities as super humans.
• DON'T use generic labels such as retarded, or the mentally ill.
• DON'T use terms like crazy, lunatic, manic-depressive, slow functioning, or normal.

Say What You Mean

Don't be mean by what you say*

Using words like crazy, lunatic or insane can hurt people's feelings because it makes those who live with mental illness (and their family members) feel ashamed and embarrassed. Mental illness is a biological illness like cancer or heart disease. You wouldn't call someone a cardiac or a cancerite. People do not want to be identified and ridiculed by their illness. It is best to avoid using slang about psychiatric disorders to show respect for individuals with mental illness.

It's hard to change phrases you have always used, so here are some ideas about how you can say what you mean without being mean by what you say.

Don't Say: It's crazy around here.

Do Say:

It's so chaotic.
It's been really frantic.
It's like a festival for the ridiculous.
Welcome to peculiar palace.

Don't Say: I'm going insane.

Do Say:

I'm feeling really frazzled.
I'm so overwhelmed.
I've reached the end of my human threshold.
My capacity to cope has been exceeded.
My tolerance meter jus ran out.

Don't Say: She's a lunatic.

Do Say:

She's demanding.
She lacks judgment.
She's a real zealot.
We sort of operate in different solar systems.
Her behavior is out of bounds.

Don't Say: That's crazy.

Do Say:

That's unreasonable.
That's irrational.
That's outrageous.
That's rebellious.
That's a seriously flawed option.

Pay attention to your language. Work to eliminate discriminatory language from you speech. Think of your own alternatives to stigmatizing language. Be creative. Before long, you will be able to eliminate discriminatory references to mental illness from your everyday speech altogether.

* Information borrowed from the State of New Hampshire Department Health & Human Services, Division of Behavioral Health

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