Stigma

Stigma.  Say it out loud.  Stigma.  To me, the sound of the word just seems bad somehow.  Just based on the sound of the word, it sounds like something I don’t want to have.  I certainly wouldn’t want such a thing to be associated with me.  “Hey man, you’ve got a stigma growing out of your head!”  “Oy, that sure is an ugly stigma.” These sound right to me.  “You have one of the most beautiful stigmas I have ever seen.  Where did you get it? I sure would want a stigma just like yours!” Ummm, no.  Don’t think so.

Stigma.  What does this word mean?  Stigma is a Greek word that in its origins referred to a type of marking or tattoo that was cut or burned into the skin of criminals, slaves, or traitors in order to visibly identify them as blemished or morally polluted persons. These individuals were to be avoided or shunned, particularly in public places.  An archaic definition is a scar left by a hot iron: a brand.  A stigma is also a mark of shame or discredit : a stain, as in he bore the stigma of cowardice.  A stigma could also be an identifying mark or characteristic such as a specific diagnostic sign of a disease.  Synonyms for stigma include blot, onus, slur, smirch, smudge, taint.  Some words that are related to stigma include disgrace, debauchery, immorality, infamy, and sin.

With what do you associate the word stigma? Social diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, criminal behavior, addiction?  Society often uses stigmas as a way to label people.  You know, the ever-popular us vs. them.  We are ok, they are not.  We are moral, they are not.  We are healthy, they are not.  We are sane, they are not.  We are normal, they are not.

What about depression?  Does depression carry a stigma?  I used to think that I didn’t know anyone who suffered from depression.  It was only after I was diagnosed with depression that I learned how many people I actually knew who had been dealing with the disease.  But this was not something to be shared or talked about in the open.  We have to hide this.  There is too much shame associated with it.  The stigma.  The tattoo, the brand, the scar.

The treatments for depression carry their own stigmas.  Who doesn’t remember Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest being treated with electric shock.  Or the barbaric-looking insulin shock therapy in A Beautiful Mind?  Today, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is often used safely and successfully, with few or no side effects, to treat severe depression.  Yet, there is still such a stigma associated with it.  Carol Kivler, mental health advocate and author of Courageous Recovery, refers to the stigma of being viewed as a “two-headed freak”.  Several articles have been written describing how the stigma has overshadowed the effectiveness of ECT.

Why the stigma?  I’d say it’s a lack of knowledge, a lack of understanding, and just plain fear.  Some people think that ECT causes major memory loss.  Some people think that ECT will turn patients into vegetables.  Some people equate ECT with torture, lobotomy, brainwashing, a loss of free will.

I had ECT treatments in 1998 as a final resort to treat severe depression.  On February 7, 2012, my life is wonderful.  I suffered no side effects, I recovered quickly from my depression, I have had no relapses.  I have no problem talking about my depression or my treatments.  A book is in the works so that I can tell my story.  I want the world to know my story. I want to eliminate the stigma.  I want to provide hope to those who feel like I once felt: utterly hopeless.

Do the mentally ill deserve to be called morally blemished?  Do we deserve to be avoided, shunned, labeled?  We suffer from an illness.  We didn’t choose it, just as people don’t choose to have cancer or heart problems.  Those illnesses don’t have stigmas.  So why should depression?

You can call me a “two-headed freak” if you so choose.  I can handle it now.