Stigma is one of the greatest detrimental factors in accepting that an individual has Bipolar Disorder. Do you know what the word stigma means? According to Dr Frank Mondimore in his recently published book Bipolar Disorder - A Guide for Patients and Families the origin of the word stigma came from the Greeks. "The Greeks, who were apparently strong on visual aids, originated the term stigma to refer to bodily signs designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of the signifier. The signs were cut or burned into the body and advertised that the bearer was...a blemished person, ritually polluted, to be avoided, especially in public places."
Stigma, prejudice and discrimination, though no longer marked into the body are all still much in evidence today and it is this that causes many problems for individuals facing a life time mental illness. Although psychiatric disorders are not so much considered "blemishes of individual character" anymore they are stigmatized just the same.
From an early age we incorporate these prejudiced thoughts about mental illnesses (or indeed any severe visible disorders). We listen to our elders and their opinions about mental illness soaks in like a sponge...people with mental illnesses are "untreatable...unpredictable...dangerous...unreliable...incompetent." The media portrays the mentally ill as demonic or subjects to ridicule. Words like "insane, crazy, nuts, schizo" can be heard spoken with contempt in any school yard.
When we ourselves are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder we have our own feelings of stigma to deal with as well as that of the people and world around us. Many of us choose to deal with it by denial...by simply ignoring it. Others choose to deal with it by telling anyone and everyone about it, using it as an excuse to avoid responsibilities and challenges....the bipolar victims we talked about in my last article.
I remember trying to deal with this issue shortly after my diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder. My mom had had the disorder for many years and died four years before my diagnosis. Her illness was kept secret from all but the closest family members...a matter of shame for all of us. I grew up with Stigma in the worst possible way...taunts from friends when my mom didn't participate in school activities like other moms and no explanation that would satisfy them were frequent. Telling lies to protect her when she was hospitalized were just a part of life. All at a time when I really didn't understand what was wrong with her...and had developed my own horror and stigma about mental illness. In the supposedly carefree days of my youth her mental illness interfered in so many ways. My mom was diagnosed at a time when there was little treatment...her illness followed a rough course, and the stigma then was ten times worse than it is now. When I was diagnosed I came face to face with all of this...personal stigma was ingrained. I couldn't have Bipolar Disorder! Bit by bit I learned more and more about it, came to terms with many of my long buried feelings about my mom, and gradually came to accept my diagnosis.
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