http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...2/23/mental-illness-still-carries-stigma.html
Mental illness still carries stigma
County-music star Mindy McCready’s life was an open book on the things people don’t hesitate to jabber about in public and on television these days: infidelity and heartbreak, drinking and drugs, domestic violence and stints in jail.
But the real cause of McCready’s death on Sunday, believed to be suicide, underscores the stigma that mental-health issues still carry and the pain borne, often without lifesaving support, by those who suffer and their families.
The brain, like the liver or the heart, is an organ. But it is an astonishingly complex organ. When it turns on its owner, the results can be tragic.
The stigma of mental illness is isolating. And it isn’t just others who perpetuate that stigma. People who have mental-health issues also may let their condition create self-blame and doubt, preventing them from seeking the necessary medical treatment. Or they may fear harassment or job discrimination.
*I'm praying one day mental illness will be seen for what it is.
It's an illness and nothing to be ashamed of.
JMO