I feel like people can see my mental illness everywhere I go, like they can see my naked body. I feel like I’ve been set up to make mistakes by my own family and by acquaintances so people can have a “reason” to dislike me besides my mental illness. I feel like they only want to bring out my worst qualities so that they can discard me, like I’m being groomed for unworthiness or evil. I feel stalked on the internet and IRL and watched by the masses like OJ Simpson or Michael Jackson. And I believe I’ve been accused of things I am not, like a psychopath, a stalker, a pervert etc.
I’ve experienced stigma at work and while buying stuff at different stores.
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I’ve experienced the same thing. I get attitude from strangers and employees and was called a bitch once while I was picking out sushi and I never once looked at the guy.
The stronger stigma was with care professionals or social workers who knew that I’m schizophrenic : Never disclose dx if not necessary.
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Mostly the only thing I’ve experienced is people not wanting me around their kids or wives because I might be dangerous but I feel like my family thinks I’m not really sick, like I’m imagining being sick or making it up. That’s why I don’t talk to them about it.
My cat looks down on me just because he’s only bipolar and I’m schizophrenic. Snobbery between different diagnoses which is a reality.
But seriously, I have experienced very little stigma.
I’ve been pretty good at hiding it for 35 years even during my most acute psychosis.
To quote Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest”. "
“Hey doc, I’m a f*ckin miracle of modern science”.
I experience no stigma from my family, they’re friends, or the random people who I tell like medical doctors, or employers who knew my diagnosis going in because they had an arrangement with the mental health agency who got me the job. In the past year I have slipped several times withe wrong tone on the phone with customer service people for example and maybe I hesitated too much in a conversation and people recoiled a little or acted a little bit hostile, but I caught it in time and got back on track and was treated normally again.
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It’s harder for me to find resources because of the psychotic element of my illness. Mention depression or anxiety and there’s a million different things for you but psychosis? No nearby support groups or group therapies, I had to fight just to get someone from my school to see me, I’ve been dumped by a therapist after revealing my psychotic symptoms because they just didn’t know what to do with me, etc.
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I got a lot of stigma when I was unhealthy because I looked unhealthy and people misunderstood me as dangerous especially after Sandy Hook happened to me 20 minutes from me. Now I look healthy and don’t face much stigma…
Maybe I have. I remember walking through my neighborhood and hearing one of the people tell his kid to stay away from me because I was schizophrenic. Glared at me the whole time that I was walking near him too. Of course I told a lot of people when I was psychotic at the university and they still treated me nicely. Some were nicer to me because of it which was cool because of how I was feeling at the time. It’s hard to teach a class when the voices are screaming at you. So there is stigma but there are nice people too. It is better to air on the side of caution but every once in a while if you trust a person you can be honest about it.
I don’t experience much stigma. That’s only because I don’t make a great attempt to interact with other people.
very lucky you nick. at work for me the stigma is horrific, and at home with my mom as well.
my siblings are good to me and so is my daughter.
stigma is particularly painful for me to experience. it hurts like h____/
judy
I think stigma is two pronged. One is the embarrassment or fear of telling people that you are schizophrenic because of their reaction; and two, the fact that people do discriminate against you if they know that you are schizophrenic. Lately, I’ve been getting into this idea of a schizophrenic culture, and that we should be proud of our culture. Unfortunately, I am in the closet when it comes to telling people I’m schizophrenic.
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I think I might experience a bit of stigma from my mother actually.
She sets the bar really low for me. All I have to do is take medicine and go to work three days a week and she says she’s proud of me.