“I know this sounds crazy, but…” “Please don’t judge me for what I’m about to share…”. I hear this quite often in my line of work. Our culture is wrought with shame and pathologizing about the subject of mental un-wellness.
What I have come to find is that this kind of shaming, causes further damage and gets in the way of healing.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness gives some helpful ideas for actively working against this shaming culture. https://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/october-2017/9-ways-to-fight-mental-health-stigma
I think it is safe to say, we all struggle with shame at times and the ‘shadow’ parts of our lives that we may not like to show to others, for fear of judgement and condemnation.
If we each commit to speaking freely about our concerns, reach out for help, normalize and empathize with others’ experiences -- We can advance. We can heal. We can make meaningful impact on the lives of others. We can change the course of history! The Shaming Culture does not need to be our legacy.
