IN MY OWN WORDS is a blog composed of letters sent in response to mental health language occurring in the media, language that is either not "seen" for its intent and content, or to which we have become inured.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770612100

“decrease the stigma that still exists..."

Editors:

You entered a "stigma" on your pages. I am curious: How does this occur? Any attempt to try to persuade you to enter the "stigma" of rape would fail, no editor or reporter would consider reinforcing that allegation, yet this one succeeds.

What were you thinking? Why were you not thinking? (The answer can be found in Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Blink.")

Had you encountered an allegation of the "stigma" of rape in an interview, you would not only have blinked, you would have gasped, and you would not have passed it on, reinforced the odious prejudice. Please, gasp when you encounter this one, too.

I believe what the speaker wanted to say was, "increase our knowledge." That is how one corrects any prejudice one "sees." BLINK!


Harold A. Maio


http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/17353894.htm

"So why are we so afraid** to allow our children to be screened for mental-health problems?" is answered by, "Dr. Beth Pfau concurs: 'There still remains a stigma to mental health. ' ” Pfau is assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine and medical director of Larue Carter Hospital, both in Indianapolis.

Editors, Jennifer, Beth, Stephen:

What faith would you place in a counselor who suggested, taught, the above about sexual assault?

For that matter, what faith would you place in editors who accepted that assignation, or in a reporter, female or male, who did? Or in a university that tolerated that assignation? The answer is you would place no faith in them.

“The biggest mental-health provider in the state is the DOC" is false. Check your yellow pages, you will find mental health fully main-streeted, integrated there, and the scale is approaching equality with physical health. What Pfau meant is "biggest institutional provider," our having recognized the abuse inherent in mental institutions, which lead to closing them. **Is our fear perhaps based in that abuse? Largely, yes, it is. We do not ignore history, though we may deny it, we do not ignore it.

A question for reporters and editors: Which "stigmas" do you accept as "news," which not, and how do you make the determination? Read Malcolm Gladwell's, "Blink," for an answer. The determination is not conscious intellect. Which illnesses do you consider "labels," "label a child for life," and which diagnoses? Read Malcolm Gladwell's, "Blink," for an answer. The determination is not conscious intellect.

A question for Stephen Leapman, Indiana University School of Medicine: Which "stigmas" do you allow taught, which not, and how do you make the determination?
And why any?

Harold A. Maio

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=565859&catname=Spectrum&classif=

Black Sky; Beloved entertainer Amy Sky is sharing (her dark secret- my edit) - her battle with postpartum depression - so others can be helped

Editors:

At some point the sharing can no longer be termed "secret." And though I do indeed enjoy the poetical, "dark" in its place, gothic novels, it is not that either.

She is sharing - precisely as Michael J. Fox is sharing - information abut an illness, about a medical issue. Please treat all medical reporting equally.

" ('Far from being shunned for telling the ugly truth,- my edit) The reaction that I have from people is that of support and gratitude,' says Sky," belying another gothic term in your article, "stigma."

Harold A. Maio

A Primer For Partners

Language And Advocacy

Advocacy requires the employ of Positive Representation. Be sure your words are positive.
Recognize negative language that it be avoided.
People become inured to negatives, raise awareness.
Speak and write precisely, avoid words and phrases that abstract.

Education precedes Empowerment, Educate

Avoid misrepresentation, before speaking to media representatives give them a written record of the language you employ.

To Stress Positives, One Must Recognize Negatives

Do not accede to Label: "the" mentally ill, the term is overbroad, abstract, indefinable.
Do not accede to Label: "a" "schizophrenic," discuss all illnesses by name.Do not accede to Negative Assignations: "stigma," "shame," all work against positive advocacy.



Harold A. Maio