More on Stigma

I know I just wrote about stigma, although what I’ve read on the news lately has taken mental illness recovery back three steps. I believe it is hard enough for people with mental illness. You do not even want to mention you have a mental illness even if you are recovered and doing well. An article like this one called: “Don’t Look Away” has brought stigma back to the fore front. The article states don’t look away or the stranger next to you might kill you if they have a mental illness. The article says one of the reasons that there are these random acts of violence is because of underfunding. Who wants to fund places that serve people who are represented so unfavorably? This article is talking about California. In the state of Washington they printed an article similarly titled the same thing “Don’t Look Away”. One of the articles in that says: “State pays in Blood for Flawed Mental Health System”. If I were to read this and not have a mental illness I would not see the underfunding. I would see that the mentally ill are dangerous. I believe like anything else that does not make the news. Are there articles or new stories about people who have recovered and are doing well in society? That kind of news does not sell as well. I was thinking about that with all the news about this shooter in Arizona, which I will be writing about in next week’s blog. We need to hear about good stories of recovery and not just on blogs, but the news.