What came first, the chicken or the egg? Well the same question existed for me when it came to mental health and substance abuse.
I, like millions of other people, suffer from co-occurring disorders, which means I suffer from a mental illness as well as the disease of alcoholism.
Because my symptoms of addiction were masking symptoms of my mental illness, and the symptoms of my mental illness were often confused with symptoms of addiction, made it almost impossible to diagnose. In fact, I wasn't diagnosed with Bipolar disorder until 2012, when I was in my 5th inpatient rehab for my addiction.
The flip side of the issue is that people with mental health disorders sometimes do not address their substance use because they don't believe it is relevant to their problems or they don't want to deal with the stigma associated with addiction.
I have found it difficult in today's polarized society, to have a real open and meaningful discussion about mental illness or addiction without some labeling or stigma being attached. While, this has certainly changed for the better of the past decade, there is still so much stigma attached to either disease, let alone a person that suffers from both.
Today, mental health and substance abuse disorders have started to become a part of the public conversation. But most people still don’t treat people with mental health conditions or addiction the same way they treat people affected by other serious diseases.
Many people still believe that addiction is a moral problem and that people with substance use disorders choose to continue using drugs or alcohol. Unlike people with other chronic health conditions, those in recovery from addiction are blamed for their problems. This stigma creates shame, guilt and fear, which prevent millions of people from getting the treatment they need to recover.
And because of these factors, I find it extremely important to break through the stigma, in order to understand the core problems and get to the solution of recovery.
It is no lie that stereotypes exist for a reason and god knows I engaged in some high risk behaviors before recovery happened. So trust me when I say there are shit-load of stereotypes that are brought to mind when thinking about people who are dependent on drugs or alcohol and even more with mental illness.
It is also is no mystery that a majority of these stereotypes make pretty negative assumptions about individuals that suffer from addiction or mental illness. I know, I have inadvertently had them made about me, to my face prior to my being willing to disclose my life story.
It is common to believe that people who abuse substances are typically deviants and don’t engage in society like the rest of the population. They embody different values to mainstream society: skirting the edges, unemployed, victims of bad upbringings, high school drop outs and prostitutes.
They take drugs in dark, dirty alleyways or squats, rob innocent people, go on binges and engage in high risk behaviors.
Or that people with mental illness are dangerous and unpredictable and you know go shoot up a place, which, is reinforced on a daily basis by popular and social media.
But the reality is that substance abusers and people with mental disorders, the majority in fact, are just like everyone else.
They are parents, children, friends, coworkers, sisters and brothers.
They hold down jobs, have friends, go to social functions and enjoy their weekends. Some fail to manage their addiction and do become entrenched in a lifestyle that the stereotypes embody, but many do not.
Anyone who has had experience with mental illness, personally or professionally, can tell you that despite advances in psychiatry and psychology, a great deal of stigma remains. While people have become more informed about mental disorders in general, stigma continues to be a reality.
An addiction as it turns out does not discriminate and bipolar is not a cured by positive affirmation meme's on the internet, although I do still love them. That and small animal videos, but again I digress.
The consequences of stigma can be serious and devastating as they certainly were for me. With stigma comes a lack of understanding from others, which can be invalidating and painful, but stigma also carries more serious consequences including fueling fear, anger, and intolerance directed at other people. People who are subjected to stigma are more likely to experience:
Reluctance to seek out treatment
Delayed treatment, which increases morbidity and mortality
Social rejection, avoidance, and isolation
Worse psychological well-being
Poor understanding among friends and family
Harassment, violence, or bullying
Poor quality of life, disability, and increased socioeconomic burden
Increased feelings of shame and self-doubt
As someone with mental and addiction, becoming aware of public stigma and of related discrimination, I began to internalize the perceived stigma and apply it to myself. The effects manifested as low self-esteem, decreased self-efficacy, and psychologically harmful feelings of embarrassment and shame, which I will delve into more later.
As is true of addiction, treatment, and recovery, stigma is a complex and dynamic process. There is no single or simple solution, but there is power in breaking the silence. Speaking out is central to the prevention and reduction of stigma.
I personally believe that it starts with education, because so many people have this stigma against people with mental health and addiction issues, I think a lot of it is because they don’t understand it and because they need to get educated more on the fact that it is a disease and that people are fighting addiction and that it really goes beyond their control at a certain point.
So, yes, it might have started with a choice, but at the end of the day, it becomes more of an instinct to survive.
We want to break the stigma. It’s okay to have a problem and to be in recovery for it, so I talk about my addiction all the time. I don’t have a problem with it because I didn’t die from it, but there are people dying on a daily basis and it stinks.
There is power in people telling our stories. Perceptions can change. Attitudes can shift. Behaviors can be modified. Knowledge can be increased. But none of these will happen unless we speak out.
When people speak out, the power of stigma is diminished. When people tell their stories, others struggling with recovery receive encouragement, recognize that someone else has taken this journey, and perceive that they too can stay on the journey to recovery. It gives people in recovery hope.
So I try to talk about it as much as I can.
Comments