Do we hold stigma against normal people?

I study stigma in school, stigma of mental illness in particular but am also educated about prejudice in general. Do we stereotype normal people? Do we hold prejudice towards them? Do we discriminate against them?

I think we are mostly intropunitive, which means we take out our punishment of being afflicted with schizophrenia on ourselves. But sometimes I do what normal people do to me- judge them all the same, perceive them as being all the same, and not want to even be near them at times, much less be vulnerable to them. Sometimes. Not always.

Sometimes normal people disgust me and I only admire the odd and the outliers, the “different” and “deviant” normal people, sometimes that is.

Part of it is how I outperform normal people for the most part and can’t understand their excuses when I don’t even play mine. But there are lots of normal people who I admire for not being sheep.

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Your studying this crap. Who or what are these normal people?

The only normal people are the one’s you don’t know very well - Alfred Adler

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My sis is a neurotypical… and I’ve seen a lot people do shitty things to her because she’s normal… So yes… there are some who stigmatize others greatly.

It scares me when the ones who have the worst prejudice against the “normal” are doctors or therapist themselves…

My sis has journals of info on me… what meds I’ve been on and what I was allergic to…what gave me rashes… what made me throw up… she’s got my full medial history and then some. (delusions… what triggers me… what I struggle with)

a year and a half or more… ago… there was this therapist who wanted to try a family therapy… so my sis and I went… this guy treated my sis like the biggest moron on the earth because as he said… there was no way at all for her to truly understand what I’ve been through…

MY sis… who has known me from her first breath on this earth… being dismissed like an idiot by jumped up doc who’s only known me for 10 minutes…

Sorry to rant… but this one really gets under my skin.

I think you have to see if a person is ignorant before you just treat them like they are.

Sorry to vent on your thread… but thank you for the patience.

I think that those afflicted with a severe mental illness do tend to stigmatize “normal” people - (I dont like using the term neurotypical any more).

By “normal” I mean those not afflicted with a severe mental illness.

I used to stigmatize against them, stigma is very much a 2 way street.

I am no longer angry towards “normal” people - but there are a lot of us that are very much bitter and have a deep rooted hatred towards them.

I now do not lump everyone together, I judge everyone on an individual basis - there is some good and bad in everyone

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By normal I mean not severely ill

I’m well aware that normal is relative, thanks

I think I hold unresolved resentments toward “normal” people but I also understand that is part of my illness. I’m trying to work it out. But like wave said, there is good and bad in everyone and for every finger you point out it seems like there are two pointed back.

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I believe so based on a lot of the things I’ve heard on here.

It’s mutual case of

Hate what you fear
Fear what you don’t understand

You can see past it and change it

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I don’t think of the docs and professors, professionals in mental health as normal, they are extremely intelligent which is not normal. They’re an exception, I generally mean normal as in not mentally ill but genius is equally uncommon.

I just haven’t really clicked with totally normal people outside of my family, most of my friends are either afflicted with disorders (I’m serious) or are just not average, usually quite intelligent is specifically how they differ from the norm.

I didn’t mean to degrade normal people like your sister, but is she really normal? She’s seen some horrific things, that’s not normal.

Normal “normal” is what psychologists often describe as a younger Christian white male. That’s what a professor at my school wrote in her book on prejudice. It’s this median, this average, this measurement of central tendency.

But I’m realizing that college aged liberals who do recreational drugs is becoming normal too. They’re far from uncommon…

Didn’t mean to tick you off James. Sorry if you were offended by my questions.

I’ve always gone against the crowd. I had little patience with much of the petty squabbles of daily existence. Of course, I missed out on a lot because of that, but I also gained the ability to think and act independently.

Sorry about that @mortimermouse

I’m not ticked off at your question at all…

I just hate it when docs and therapist dismiss others so bluntly… without even listening…

Yes… docs have all the schooling… but the family seems to be in a bind… if they don’t participate in the recovery… they are seen as uncaring if they do try to participate they are seen as meddlesome.

Do docs want supportive family for their patients or not? This doc I went to… yes many letters behind his name…

Does he just automatically know me better then my own sis? NO. I wish since it was his idea to invite her into the conversation… then why not listen to what she had to say?

Again… not ticked at you or the question… there are a few things on this end that are stacking up… normie hate has been a bit of a sore spot…

Again… thank you for the understanding. Cheers.

It’s a bit odd… docs keep saying my sis is normal… apart from the anorexia… the deep anxiety… and the self harm… she’s perfectly OK says the therapist who sees her.

I am wary of people,especially in a group, who are non mentally ill . This is the product of bullying/teasing for being different as a teenager/child. At various points as an adult I have had mocking comments and looks, sustaining the effects of childhood.
I try to say to myself that not all non mentally ill people are potential abusers but it is hard.

i’m wary of normals. They teased and bullied me during school. i was unusual to say the least during my school years.

I’m not stigmatizing/stereotyping all normal people just the one’s who seem to have their ■■■■ together or they’re perfoming it - whatever i get an idea that they are certainly not the ones who are questioning all the things around, including themselves.

i class myself as normal

I tend to stigmatize non-nerds, jocks in particular (sorry Mouse). Had such a rough time at their hands in school that I’ve never forgiven them. I don’t have a single friend that follows team sports such as hockey or football and I prefer things that way.

Pixel.

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Uhhhhh, wellllllllll, I’m not so sure that thesis will stand up on this web forum. Hahahaha.

Nor in the real life I live. Most sz, BD and BPD pts are so paranoid at times that they lash out pretty assertively, albeit when they project their own loathed parts onto others.

Bingo. Normal means “of or representing the norm” (not “healthy” or “well,” and certainly not necessarily “functional”). If dysfunction is the societal norm… Hmm.

And, I will add, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” – J. Krishnamurti

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An occasionally repeated dictum among Ph.D.-level tx experts:

“One third of all therapists are competent and effective. One third of all therapists are not, but they do no harm. And one third…”

You get the picture.

I was highly resentful towards the supposed “normies” for years because I was still stuck in one of Albert Ellis’s dysfunctional beliefs. To wit: “Others should be able to understand and make room for my errors of perception and reaction.”

When I observed to notice to recignize to acknowledge to accept to own that I did indeed think that way, I began to get up out of that cognitive “box.”

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