By s.e. smith on 3 December, 2010
I happened to be browsing through The American Journal of Psychiatry the other day1 when I noticed an article discussing the persistence of stigmatised social attitudes about mental illness. Researchers conducted a study using brief vignettes and asking respondents to discuss their reactions to them2. The study found two interesting things: The first was that [...]
Posted in mental health, social attitudes | Tagged pop culture, stereotypes, stigma
By Anna on 20 October, 2010
Good Day, all. It’s been a stressful week at Chez Anna (I’m putting this together at 5 a.m. my time) so forgive me for oversights, please. Kali at Brilliant Mind, Broken Body: I am not your metaphor This is something that has bothered me for a long time, and actually led to one of the [...]
Posted in recommended reading | Tagged abuse, australia, birth stories, braille, canada, Deaf, Disability Living Allowance, disability metaphors, DLA, down syndrome, protests, self-acceptance, stigma, tourism, u.k., work
By Anna on 13 October, 2010
Mix up a few details, and Blanchard’s story is a pretty common one. Whenever I talk to people who are currently living with long- or short-term depression, or have lived with it in the past, they tell me the same story: Friends thought they were faking because they managed to get out and have a good time. They laughed at a joke once and everyone decided they were “over” their “funk”. They didn’t act like stereotypes of depressed people, so they must not actually be depressed.
Posted in mental health, shaming | Tagged bingo cards, depression, mental health, myth-busting, myths, stigma
By Anna on 13 October, 2010
A few signal-boosting calls to action that people, especially those in the US, may want to participate in. Penny Reeder at Abled Body: Share your Smart Phone Strife with the FCC And one other thing, I don’t want to pay any more for my smartphone than anybody who has a Blackberry, Droid, or iPhone. I [...]
Posted in recommended reading | Tagged assisted living, crazy, mental health, mental illness, pets, stigma, United Kingdom, virgina ironside, wheelchair, wheelchair users
By s.e. smith on 3 February, 2010
A periodic feature in which we highlight some of the more ableist posts and comments in the blogosphere – the things that made us throw up our hands and ask “FOR CEREAL???” Today’s edition of “FOR CEREAL???” comes to us courtesy of the lovely folks at Yahoo, who published this handy guide from, I kid [...]
Posted in For Cereal?, language, mental health, social attitudes | Tagged bad advice, ORLY, stigma
By Anna on 26 November, 2009
One of the hardest things for me in dealing with my mental health condition is my very strong theory that everyone else is having exactly the same problems that I am, but they’re just 8 million times better at dealing with them, and hiding them from everyone else. And thus, I don’t talk about my mental health, much, because everyone else is obviously coping with the same thing, and I’m just a big whiner who can’t cope and fails at everything and is useless and should just run away and everyone will be better and–
Posted in blaming, mental health, social attitudes | Tagged mental health, mental health concerns, mental illness, personal, stigma
By Anna on 12 November, 2009
Recommended Reading for November 12, 2009
Posted in recommended reading | Tagged blog carnival, braille, caregiving, carers, carnival, language, media and pop culture, mental health, mental illness, pop culture, privacy, private practice, stamps, stigma, voting
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