Tag: stigma

‘Yellowjackets’ Shows ECT and Harms the Mentally Ill

If you’re hooked on the show Yellowjackets, like me, then you’ll know that in season two, episode two, Yellowjackets showed an electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) scene (I believe it may be called “electroshock” in the show). In the scene, one character, Lottie, is forced onto a bed, an injection is given in her arm, a bite block is placed in her mouth, and she is shocked by electrodes on either side of her head. She violently convulses, clearly in nightmarish pain. Let’s talk about how the Yellowjackets‘ depiction of ECT is inaccurate and harms the mentally ill.

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Why Do We Feel Menta Illness Self-Stigma? How Do We Fight It?

Mental illness self-stigma is essential to recognize. Stigma is a very popular word in mental health advocacy circles. People talk nonstop about the effects of stigma, stigma, stigma. However, self-stigma gets somewhat less press. I don’t know if that’s because it’s people with mental illness talking to other people with mental illness about self-stigma (as opposed to advocates who may or may not have an illness) or because people just don’t like to cop to perceived weakness, but self-stigma is real, harmful, and something we ought to be talking about.

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Ep 5: What Work Is Like When You Have a Mental Illness ― A Story Told and Your Questions Answered

This week on Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast with Natasha Tracy, I’m talking with, well, me! I’m going to be sharing my own story of what it’s like to work with a mental illness. I’m going to talk about mental illness stigma in the workplace and finally leaving the workplace because of mental illness. I’m also going to talk about some basic statistics about why mental illness in the workplace matters and answer any questions you may have.

Make sure you tune in live or submit your questions early so the conversation can be shaped by you! If you’re curious about what people with mental illness go through in the workplace, this is the episode for you.

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Stigma Prevents Mental Health Care — Myth

A major refrain in the mental health world is that stigma prevents people from seeking mental health care, and that’s why we need all these anti-stigma campaigns and programs. Well, the actual facts beg to differ. While stigma may prevent mental health care in a minority of cases, there are far bigger reasons why people who need care don’t get it. This begs the following questions: Why are advocates always harping on about stigma? Why are there so many anti-stigma campaigns? What would really help people with mental illness get mental health care?

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Natasha Tracy Stigmatizes the Mentally Ill?

So I’m on Twitter today and someone says that Natasha Tracy stigmatizes the mentally ill (paraphrasing). Specifically, Bipolar Burble is “one of the most stigmatizing things I’ve ever seen.”

Now, in case you haven’t kept up with completely uncurrent events – Natasha Tracy also has a mental illness called bipolar disorder. And while I’m sure that some people don’t like the way I express that or my opinions on it, to say I’m stigmatizing to those with a mental illness is, well, redonkulous.

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365 Days of Bipolar Art

The Bipolar Burble blog welcomes Missy Douglas Ph.D, a British artist and writer with bipolar disorder who works under the studio name ucki ood. Her latest project, the 2:365 Art Book, is available now on Kickstarter.

It’s a commonly held belief that there are close links between bipolar disorder and the creative voice. If you just type the words “bipolar” and “artist” into any Internet search engine, the names of Vincent Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock and even Michelangelo scream out at you like the painted hero of alleged fellow sufferer, Edvard Munch.

Much as I hesitate to mention myself in the same breath as these four great artists, I do believe this theory to be true. As a girl, I walked the unstable line between anxiety and precociousness. If I was charming and witty, I was also withdrawn, furious and conceited in equal measure. Yet one thing was unerringly constant: the crayon in my hand. Despite various professional flirtations, what I was to become – an artist – was never really in question. By the time I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 19, it didn’t really come as a shock. I was an artist, and all artists were “crazy,” right?

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When it Comes to Mental Illness and Depression, Stigma Kills

The Bipolar Burble welcomes guest author Joshua R Beharry, a Vancouver, B.C., Canada-based mental health advocate.

I developed depression in silence.

I remember the months before I became severely depressed; it was the summer of 2009. Deadlines at work had me more stressed than usual and I was increasingly unhappy with my lack of social life. I noticed my thoughts becoming more erratic and desperate but I didn’t know what this meant or where it could lead. I was 22 years old.

When anyone asked how I was doing, I lied and said I was fine. I didn’t tell anyone I wasn’t sleeping well, that my appetite was down or that I felt weaker and more tired than normal.

I saw mental illness only as a label and I didn’t want to admit I may be having issues with my own mental health. I didn’t know enough about depression to see all the warning signs. I kept silent as my thoughts grew darker and I began to fantasize about ending my life.

Depression Overwhelmed Me

I remember the night I realized I could no longer hide my depressed thoughts. I lay in bed unable to fall asleep, my stomach cramped. I felt hot, sweaty and nauseous. It was one of the longest nights of my life.

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I write a three-time Web Health Award winning column for HealthyPlace called Breaking Bipolar.

Also, find my writings on The Huffington Post and my work for BPHope (BP Magazine).

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