Mental health and Stigma: Collating your responses part 2

This week on the blog, we’re sharing more of your responses to our Instagram question box we posted back in November 2021. We asked you to share your lived experience of stigma around mental health and the responses we received were insightful and honest. Thank you so much for sharing your stories. Please bear in mind that some of these responses may be upsetting to read, and you are welcome to skip this post if that’s what’s best for you. See you next time!

The question box read:

Can you share your experience of stigma around mental health?

Stigma is defined as: “A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person.”

The responses were as follows.

  • “People pulling away, not taking me seriously.”
  • “Changing how they behave around me”
  • “A GP told me I wasn’t fit to be a mother because of my history of mental illness”
  • “I’ve had it used against me at home and been blamed for my reaction to mistreatment.”
  • “Because I suffer from more ‘common’ mental health issues that are more accepted, I notice the contrast of how others are treated.”
  • “I lost a friend following a mental health diagnosis”
  • “I have experienced poor treatment from the NHS.”

It was hard to read some of these responses, but the first step of battling stigma is being open and honest about mental health. You have nothing to be ashamed of and Mind Waves will always be a safe online space to share your thoughts and feelings.

Remember that you can send an email to maddy@mindwavesnews.com if you’re interested in writing something for us. It can be as short as you want, and can be anonymous or named. Also don’t forget that I am here to help and edit, so if you have a jumble of thoughts that you can’t figure out, I’d be happy to help via email or zoom.

February is LGBTQ+ history month and I would love to shine a spotlight on some queer stories, if you identify as LGBTQ+ and you’re interested in writing or sharing something about mental health and wellbeing, get it touch!

 

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