Link – The Tragedy of Mental Illness Stigma

This is atrocious. Think about this for a second:

“About half of people in the United States are estimated to have a diagnosable mental illness at some point in their lives. Whether we’re talking about major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, OCD, schizophrenia, or a host of other mental health conditions, this accounts for more than 160 million people in this nation alone. These are people like you and me. They’re people we encounter everyday—those who teach our children, fix our plumbing, bus our tables, pilot the aircraft we ride on, and write the books we read. In fact, we may actually be talking about ourselves.

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People with mental health difficulties remain among the most stigmatized groups in the world today. It’s the reason Hinshaw’s family never talked about his father’s absences. People are often worried that if their friends, family, or employers found out, this could mean the end of relationships and the loss of jobs. And these concerns are warranted. In half of U.S. states, admitting to a history of mental illness can lead to loss of a driver’s license, inability to serve on a jury or run for office, or even potentially loss of custody of a child.”

To admit to being in the half of the population with some sort of mental health struggle, automatically makes you ineligible to drive a car or raise a child? That’s stigma at it’s finest, and exactly the kind of thing that needs to change.

Unfortunately, there are far too many people in the US who think this kind of policy is a good idea. They need educated. I’m glad there are people out there trying to bring this to the light.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/supersurvivors/201808/the-tragedy-mental-illness-stigma