Don't let anyone know: The stigma of OCD and other mental illnesses

By Georgia O'Keefe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-green.jpg

Last week, I wrote about May being Mental Health Month and touched on the stigma that still surrounds mental health illnesses.

Readers commenting on that post also discussed the continuing stigma that can keep some people from seeking help for their illnesses.

I decided that I wanted to further explore that idea of stigma and especially how it related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Stigma about mental illness

What is stigma? According to The American Heritage Dictionary, stigma is “(a) mark or token of infamy, disgrace, or reproach.” So, in a way, to some people, there’s a disgrace associated with having a mental illness.

I certainly felt disgraced the first time I went to the office of my first psychiatrist. I was 26 years old and had been in therapy with a psychologist for a year or so. She wanted me to see a medical doctor for help with my depression and with the OCD that I had recently revealed to her.

I lived in a small college town then, and I remember being relieved that the psychiatrist’s office was in another town about 10 miles away. I hoped that would lessen the chance of someone I knew seeing me go into the office.

Because if others saw me go into a psychiatrist’s office, they might think I was crazy. They would certainly wonder what was wrong with me, what was it that I couldn’t handle like “normal” people could.

I remember even being embarrassed with the front counter staff in the office. They knew what their boss did. Did they think ill of me? Did they look down on me?

These were my thoughts that first time.

The Mayo Clinic has some helpful information on its website about the stigma surrounding mental health.

An article called “Mental health: Overcoming the stigma of mental illness,” by Mayo Clinic staff, states that other people’s “judgments almost always stem from a lack of understanding rather than information based on facts.”

Negative effects of stigma, according to the article, include a lack of understanding on the part of families, friends and colleagues; discrimination; a hard time finding housing; physical violence and harassment; trouble with health insurance not adequately covering care; and the belief that people with mental illnesses cannot be successful at certain things or get better.

Stigma about OCD

And then there’s the stigma of having OCD. It’s still easier for me to tell people I have depression than to tell them I have OCD. The symptoms of OCD can look strange.

It wasn’t easy for me to tell my first psychiatrist how I cleaned my bathroom compulsively, that I checked the stove for literally hours, that I couldn’t walk 10 feet without looking behind me to look for dangerous objects.

I was afraid of what she would think of me. I was afraid she would think I was a weird, crazy person who had brought all this on myself.

It’s still not easy to reveal my symptoms.

According to the International OCD Foundation’s “What You Need to Know About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder,” found on its website, some people with OCD hide their symptoms because of their fears of embarrassment or stigma. That’s one reason that it takes an average of 14 to 17 years from the time of symptom-onset for sufferers of OCD to receive proper treatment.

Fighting stigma

The advice that the Mayo Clinic provides for how to combat the stigma of mental illness apply well to the stigma about OCD, too.

That advice includes getting help for your illness, learning about your illness, getting support from people you trust, joining a support group, not equating yourself with your mental illness, getting help from school for your children who have mental illnesses, and speaking out about the stigma.

Two of those caught my attention in particular. One is the notion of equating yourself with your mental illness. The article reminds us that we are not our illness and suggests taking measures such as saying, “I have clinical depression,” instead of calling yourself depressed.

Ways to speak out against the stigma of mental illness include public speaking opportunities, writing letters to the editor and writing on the Internet.

Have you ever personally encountered the stigma of mental illnesses? Did the stigma cause you to delay seeking treatment?

May is Mental Health Month

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Tragedy.JPG

May is Mental Health Month, and it has me thinking.

Mental Health America is the sponsor of Mental Health Month. This year’s theme is “Do more for 1 in 4.”

According to the MHA website, “an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older—about one in four adults—suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder in a given year.”

One in four. That’s a lot of people.

I’ve written before about working as a health educator for nearly eight years. One of the things I did in my job was to keep up with national health observances. (You can find a list of them at Healthfinder.) There are a lot of them throughout the year: months, weeks and days dedicated to observing a particular health condition or concern.

Health observances mark a time for people to be especially focused on raising awareness about and educating people about a specific health condition.

While as a health educator with limited time and funds I couldn’t raise awareness about all the observances, I knew each was important to someone.

I have a special interest in Mental Health Month because I suffer from and people dear to me suffer from mental health disorders. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

According to the observance promotion materials provided on the MHA website, many people—as high as 50 percent—who have a mental health disorder don’t seek or get treatment because of the stigma of mental illness, lack of information, cost or lack of health insurance coverage.

How many of you can relate to that? I can.

I remember thinking that I would never see a counselor—it would be too embarrassing. I remember thinking I would never see a psychiatrist—anyone who found out about it would think I was crazy. I remember crying before I took my first antidepressant pill because I believed that I must be a weak person. I remember not having health insurance and making decisions about treatment based on how much money I had.

It shouldn’t be that way for people with mental health illnesses or physical illnesses. Everyone should have the ability to get the basic health care they need.

I realize that as a country, we need to figure out the best way to reach that goal. But figuring it out should be one of the top priorities of our leaders.

Funding for and access to mental health care should not lag behind that of physical illnesses either. A lot of people suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. Look around the room at work, or in a restaurant or at church. One in four.

One of the most frustrating things about knowing that people are not seeking treatment for mental health problems is the fact that, as MHA states in its materials, they are treatable.

People don’t have to continue to suffer.

They do need to know about the diseases they suffer from, that help is available and where that help is. And they need to have a means to access that help.

I don’t have all the answers. But I know some things I can do.

I can take care of myself the best I can to be an example to others that treatment can help in living a wonderful life as well as to have the health I need to help others.

I can keep up with current legislation that affects health care, including mental health care, and communicate my concerns to my representatives.

I can, as I am able, educate and advocate for others, whether that’s by listening to a friend who suffers from a mental illness or a family member of one who suffers; writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper calling for less stigma and more help; blogging about my own experiences; or speaking about mental health issues to a local group.

One in four. That’s a lot of people, don’t you think?

What are the best ways to advocate for those with mental illnesses? Can you see yourself doing any of those things?