{"id":18681,"date":"2017-09-19T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=18681"},"modified":"2023-03-16T09:06:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T09:06:19","slug":"handling-depression-stigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/handling-depression-stigma.htm","title":{"rendered":"Told the Wrong Person? 9 Ways to Handle Mental Health Stigma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"mental<\/a>

By: Maddie Photography~<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there anything worse than gathering your courage to let someone know you are struggling, only to be faced with mental health stigma?<\/p>\n

Examples of mental health stigma<\/h2>\n

You tell a colleague <\/a>at work you are suffering from an anxiety disorder<\/a> and they give you a blank stare then change the topic.<\/p>\n

Or you tell the person you\u2019ve been dating lately (and really like) that you have had problems with depression<\/a> in the past, and they respond by telling you to ‘be more grateful<\/a>\u00a0for what you have’.<\/p>\n

And your heart crashes. The black hole re-opens and you fall in.<\/p>\n

Such responses are not about you, they are about the other person. Mental health stigma is uneducated, outdated, and insensitive, but sadly still happens all the time.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How to handle anxiety and depression stigma\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

So how you can you handle it when you are face-to-face with ignorance around mental health issues<\/a>?<\/p>\n

1. Don\u2019t trust your immediate thoughts.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Depression<\/a> and anxiety<\/a> involve\u00a0a tendency toward cognitive distortions<\/a><\/strong> – thoughts that seem logic at the time, but are out of line with reality.<\/p>\n

\"depression<\/a>

By: YJ Jeon<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

And any experience that leaves us feeling ashamed <\/a>or belittled (and stigma definitely does both)<\/strong> can throw us\u00a0into the worst of such distortions.<\/p>\n

This includes extreme thinking<\/a>, revenge thoughts, and doom thoughts. At worse these thoughts will be tempting you to self-harm<\/a> or even leave you\u00a0suicidal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Question each thought you have no matter how creative or logical it seems in the moment.<\/strong>\u00a0If you were feeling good in this moment, would you be having these thoughts?<\/p>\n

2. Get busy doing something else. Now.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Remind yourself that whatever you feel like doing in this moment can wait a day. This isn’t about not defending yourself. It’s about recognising that when you are depressed or anxious you are vulnerable and\/or prone to impulsivity <\/a>and doing things you later regret. Your priority has to be good self-care<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>So don\u2019t send the person a ranting email about how ignorant they are, or declaring you never want to see them again, or send 100 articles on how to handle depressed people<\/a>. And definitely don\u2019t contact everyone you both know to \u2018set the record straight\u2019.<\/p>\n

Instead, try something like the following<\/strong> to delay taking action:<\/p>\n