Living with a Mental Illness: Tired of Stereotypes and Stigma

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Living with a Mental Illness: Tired of Stereotypes and Stigma
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Living with a Mental Illness: Tired of Stereotypes and Stigma

It seems people living with a mental illness are fed up with stereotypes of what it's like to have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. Across our social networks this week, we asked our community members what most bothered them about having a mental illness. Here are a few responses:

• Carolyn Clark (FB): Stereotypes and narrow mindedness toward mental illness and the effects it can have.
• Scott P. Smith (FB) The public's stereotype that I'm either homicidal or suicidal just because I'm bipolar.
• Grace M. Druzba (FB) That I am defective and therefore second class - someone not to breed with.
• @kailejocelyn: I hate being known as "that girl who cuts" or "that girl who tried to kill herself" or "that girl who starves herself."
• @leah_michal: Loss of credibility in a lot of situations.
• @bipolarvoice: Stigma from others; the fact that your opinion can be treated as inferior if someone thinks you're in an episode.

What about you? What bothers you most about having a mental illness? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

Related Depression Treatment Information

• Does Living With a Mental Illness Mean I’m Not Normal?
• Manic Depressive Symptoms and Living as a Manic Depressive
• Living with Schizophrenia (video)
• Personal Story of Living with Anxiety
• Life with an Eating Disorder
• 3 Ugly Truths About Dissociative Identity Disorder

Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. Symptoms of Severe Anxiety Feel Very Scary
2. PTSD and Fatigue: Is It Normal to Feel So Tired?
3. Schizophrenia Brain: Impact of Schizophrenia on the Brain

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Memories of Trauma Effect on Anxiety 
• Speaking Openly About Bipolar and Being Judged For It 
• Black Male Identity, Mental Illness and Treatment 
• Is There A Party In Your PTSD Head? 
• Why Giving Back Increases Your Self-Esteem 
• The Other Side of Psychosis 
• Making ‘Friends’ With Your Psychiatrist 
• From Stigma to Stability: Changing Minds About Mental Illness 
• An Open Letter to Barack Obama 
• Wellness Tips for Addiction Recovery
• Help Your Teens "Unlearn" Abuse
• Managing Self Injury Urges With Impulse Control Logs
• Two Years of Surviving ED Blog
• Unlearning Negative Thought Patterns 

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week:

• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter
• or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.