Stigma

[NikNik]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious to know if anyone has ever experienced stigma associated with being a carer - or associated to mental illness, which you or the person you care for have experienced?

SANE has a 'Say No To Stigma' campaign and StigmaWatch - so it's an area that we're really passionate about.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

[NikNik]

Even though there are no posts in this thread... there have been a fair few views. So I thought I would post this video as inspiration

[ivana]

Of course many people or their families have received stigma.
Personally my worst experiences with stigma have been from doctors.
Examples are:
A doctor I went to for physical symptoms point to his head and say "she's probably just crazy"
Many other examples.
Many doctors have a general outlook that people with severe mental illnesses are different from them,and interact with them poorly,yell at them and/or talk in cutting and disrespectful tones to them.

I've also witnessed doctors being disrespectful to other people with mental illness.
In my experience,Emergency room doctors and Neurologists were the worst.
I've witnessed numerous times emergency room doctors being very aggressive to people clearly in psychosis or fear.
The doctor>patient power difference is huge and the patient has no effective avenue of complaint.
I also witnessed,when attending a Neurology appointment,the Neurologist (referring to the patient prior me who was coughing/making loud hacking sounds) said "Oh just ignore him,he's a paranoid Schizophrenic"

There's many more horrible situations but noone does anything,including Sane.
Sane is only interested in stigma by media or general public but for some reason refuses to address the enormous stigma from the Medical Profession.

Doctors are put on pedestals and still enjoy an immunity from consequences.

[CherryBomb]

Hi Ivana,

It seems like you’ve experienced some pretty unfair treatment by doctors. You are not alone, people affected by mental illness often feel judged by health care professionals. This not to say that all health professional are bad but unfortunately, there are some that can behave poorly. So I’m glad that you have raised this issue because part of SANE’s approach to overcoming stigma is starting a conversation about it and working together to develop ways to overcome it. Action starts with discussion.The doctor’s behaviour that you described is not ok, and it is important that there is increased awareness that this is not acceptable behaviour and that people can take action. There are few services that support consumers to specifically address inappropriate treatment like this. I’m not sure where in Australia you are, but each state has services that can support you in taking action against behaviour like this, for instance in Tasmania there’s http://www.healthcomplains.tas.gov.au, which is a service where you can lodge complaints about health services treatment. Alternatively, depending on what services it is, there are complaint systems within organisations too. 

I'm keen to know if anyone else had similar experiences to Ivana, and how they have managed it.

[Neb]

Of course! One NEVER revealed that you were a "nut" if one applied for a job, it guaranteed disqualification. Sadly, most of my friends dropped away at the worst period, although having had the experience of being a friend to a sick person, I can understand that aspect better.

Where I live now, the attitude to mental illness is probably worse than where I was originally. Interestingly, before I stopped working, if you were an inpatient with a medical problem, any psychiatric information was suppressed which I thought was bizarre.

[Jo]

I knew my son was getting worse. I knew the signs, as most carers do. But when I reached out to a doctor for help, I was not listened to. He claimed my son was 'catastrophising'. It must have been a buzz word amongst  medicos at the time because when I took my son to Emergency at a city hospital, after he'd been interviewed re admittance, I was told exactly the same thing. They used the word 'catastrophising'. I had to take my son home.I won't relate what happened that night but it ended up with first an ambulance coming to the house, then the police and my son being kept alive in hospital with tubes and drips for days afterwards. I don't know whether my story comes under the label of stigma or not, but the word 'catastrophising' to me, is a real put-down.

[butterflychaser]

Such an interesting topic - and one close to my heart! I'm a bit conflicted on this one 

I have experienced mental health issues - depression and anxiety. Part of me felt that disclosing it to my employers was a good thing - and if I didn't I might be somehow reinforcing stigma in the society. I was fortunate that when I did disclose it was when I was not experiencing major symptoms. To the employer's credit, it was received with sensativity. 

However, at my current work (which ironically is a mental health organisation - *not* SANE!) there's no way I would feel comfortable. I don't feel secure in my work or have a close relationship with anyone here (which is rather sad, given I've been here over a year).  Mental health of employees is not really talked about and certainly there's no acknoledgement that something like 1 in 4 will be experiencing a mental health problem (let alone have a friend or family member experiencing one). 

I think things are slowly changing - with initiatives like SANE and others - so that gives me some hope. 

[Amber]

I'm probably in the wrong forum, as I am not a carer.  I have a mental illness.  I will leave it to you to decided who are the ones with the problem though.  I have never shared these experiences before in writing and to potentially so many people.  I am sorry for the length of this post.

Before I was 'officially' diagnosed with mental illness, in one of my jobs in the Public Service I was bullied by my boss over a long period.  I felt I couldn't leave as I had responsibilities.  I was divorced and had a child to support, plus I had a mortgage to pay.  Eventually, I had a breakdown and was advised to go on stress leave.  Big mistake.  I was obliged to visit the Commonwealth Psychiatrist.  What I didn't know was that he had a history and a mission to lay the groundwork for dismissing any potential claims for Workers' Compensation.  He destroyed what was left of me.  I won't go into the details why, but suffice to say there were so many complaints about him that at one stage he was not allowed to practice for a period of time.

The last incidence of workplace bullying occurred in 2009.  I was then working at a Community Health Service.  By this time I had been diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder, and I have always been open about it.  I considered myself an exemplary employee.  My illness was managed well and didn't impact my work.  Everything was going along fine until my boss left and a new one was appointed.  It started with 'mind games' and false accusations.  The threads of my mind were starting to unravel again.  It was deja vu.  One day I went to work.  My boss wasn't there, but a message had been left for me to go straight home and look in my letter box.

There was a hand-delivered, official letter.  It said that the organisation had sought legal advice.  They wanted me to sign a waiver for my psychiatrist to release information to them on my diagnosis and treatment.  Moreover, they said they wouldn't allow me back to work unless he verified that I wasn't a physical threat to the other staff.  (I have never been, and never will be violent.  I never once smacked my son whilst he was growing up.)

I had a major breakdown which resulted in me being unable to work again until very recently.  Although I know I had grounds to lodge a case of discrimination, my health wasn't up to taking any further stress.  Even now, I still feel fragile and hypersensitive to people's comments and how they may view me.

This time, my recovery process has taken years to achieve and I will never be the same again.  However, since I have made the transition to working part-time in the mental health sector, it is my desire to become an advocate and a voice for others suffering from mental illness.  I deliberately use the word 'suffering', because it is one thing to manage and recover from an illness, and quite another to deal with ignorance and discrimination.

If you have got this far, many thanks for reading.

Amber

[Neb]

Yeah me too. I worked in hospitals and the staff were the worst critics, man they were horrible, and even though they did not say so to the patient, they let on in non verbal ways.

[Neb]

Amber, I so hope the culture is changing, I ended up OD because of the vicious workplace bullying at one place. Needless to say I was admitted elsewhere rather than my workplace.