Combating Stigma As Individuals

Some Examples of Personal Responses to Stigma which Can Be Positive and Helpful,"

Resources, Vol. 6, No. 3

By Michael J. Kendrick PhD

Most of us agree that stigma constitutes a problem for people who use mental heath services. Yet many of us feel we can have little effect in lessening stigma, since, like many other collective social realities, it transcends individuals.

As a result we may get the false impression that individual action can have no meaningful impact on stigma The truth is that it very much does matter that we all resolve to reduce both our own contribution to stigma and the stigmatizing conditions in our circles.

Here are some brief sketches of individual destigmatizing actions. They emphasize consciousness-raising, personal conviction and the pursuit of more helpful understanding of who people really are. More importantly, they provide ways for one person to make a small difference.

· Try to educate yourself to what it is about stigma that hurts people. For instance, why do people prefer not to be lumped under negative labels?

· Maintain frequent personal contact with those affected by stigma.

· Be careful with the unconscious or unintended consequences of what you say:

-the words themselves

-the tone

- the implications

- the long-term impressions.

· Emphasize gentling stories from your own experience that opened you to others and helped break down barriers of misunderstanding. Share the experiences of how you became sensitized to stigma and what it took to educate you.

· Correct incidental stigmatizing misconceptions in conversations. For example, if friends tend to underestimate the ability of people who use mental health services to speak for themselves, point out that tendency to them.

· Challenge the truth of public defamations of stigmatized groups.

· Enroll in groups that are trying to change attitudes.

· In professional organizations and services, argue for changes away from practices that might result in stigma for client groups. These include settings that segregate and isolate users of services from their communizes.

· Support consciousness-raising public events.

· Model the example of a personal alliance with stigmatized groups through:

- public actions

- personal and private associations

- sharing personal regrets and learning about attitudes and beliefs.

· Dissociate yourself from actions and persons that perpetuate stigma. Persuade people of alternatives.

· Support measures that safeguard the rights, voice and credibility of stigmatized

· people, such as guaranteeing users of mental health services access to a wide variety of external, independent forms of advocacy.

· Take opportunities to evaluate the "messages" in our media books, articles, newspapers, films, television. For example, look at the unrelenting portrayal of people who use mental health services as violent, dangerous and inhuman.

· Get in the habit of talking with others about subjects such as attitudes, stigma, images, unstated impressions. Put these ideas out where you can see them.

· Invite other people to comment critically on your own insensitivity in regard to stigmatizing ideas, practices or interactions with people who use mental health services. These could be as subtle as changes in tone of voice or as obvious as misconceptions.

· In your community, argue for programs or arrangements that improve the status or social value of stigmatized people: expanded integrated employment, anti-discrimination measures, affordable integrated housing and inclusion of people into civic and religious life.

· Check out your assumption/presumptions with spokespersons of groups who have themselves experienced stigma.

· In instances when your personal conduct has fallen short, try to picture conduct that would have-been more respectful; attempt to model this conduct in the future.

· Interest yourself in the experiences and circumstances of friends and relatives who may face stigma through, for example, aging, illness, alcoholism, unemployment, disability or sexual preference.

· Challenge public authorities to create change.

· Welcome people with stigmatized identities into community groups such as churches and clubs.

· Try to be open enough to see and understand people as unique, not as members of a generalized stereotype.

· Sort out fact from myth in your own mind.

· Pay particular attention to what is specifically in front of you, someone's appearance, someone's loneliness, someone's confusion, someone's presence, someone's absence.

Michael J. Kendrick PhD

4 Bullard Ave.,

Holyoke, MA 01040 USA

413-533-3511/FAX 413-533-8071

Email kendrickconsult@attglobal.net