Stigma of Illness (Part II)

In my April 11th post, I refer to an article in Women's Day titled, "The Stigma of Illness."

Stigma can keep patients from becoming Healthy Survivors, so let's talk about dealing with stigma in healthy ways.

First: Recognize signs of social stigma, such as people using language that:

• lumps together patients with a particular disease in one category.
• blames patients for their disease.
• includes slang or derogatory terms.
• includes inaccurate or wrong "facts."

Second: Assess if stigma is affecting you negatively by looking for signs such as

• feeling ashamed of your diagnosis.
• feeling reluctant to reveal your diagnosis to anyone.
• self-talk that devalues or belittles you.
• loss of hopefulness, confidence, courage, ability to enjoy relationships or life.

The Women's Day article includes interviews with three women who have "risen above the stigma, the misconceptions and the prejudice...." of AIDS, lung cancer and bipolar disorder. Going public and sharing their stories has been healing for them. They've felt empowered, chipping away at baseless, stigmatizing generalizations by putting a face and a name to a disease.

I emphasized "for them" because the cost of fighting stigma can be high. For some survivors in some situations, the cost of trying to combat stigma may be too high. Healthy Survivors know they have a right to choose not to be an advocate for disease-related causes. They have a right to do whatever it takes to get good care and live fully.

 

 

Comments

[Marcy]

Thank you for this post. It speaks directly to an experience I had again yesterday: revealing my weakness and, although the other person was well-intentioned, I came away feeling inferior and ashamed for not rising above my cirumstances. I hadn't given this person the whole picture so she didn't understand. But I could see that explaining more would increase the risk. Although I have been asked by others to speak publicly about my experiences, again I see that I am not ready, and perhaps never will be. Thank you for giving me permission to take care of myself.

[Wendy S. Harpham, MD]

Dear Marcy,
I'm so glad the post helped. The beauty of Healthy Survivorship is that it respects people's individuality. Instead of offering one-size-fits-all "right" answers, it guides people to the "best" answers for them at this moment in time.

I'll be pursuing how Healthy Survivors deal with stigma in my next post, too.

With hope, Wendy

[Jan Hasak]

Thank you for pointing out that we survivors need not be advocates. Many want to forget their illness and move on to as normal a life as possible. It's important to let them know they are free to do just that. It puts a stigma on people with diseases when we expect them to "pay it forward" when they shouldn't have any pressure beyond what they can bear.

[Finn]

Absolutely right. I like being an advocate--sometimes. Other times I just need to focus the rest of my life, which has its own demands.