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Steve MacHattie

Let's Quiet the Shame!

Can you imagine telling someone with diabetes "just get over it"? How about telling someone with heart disease "you're just causing drama in your life"? What about telling someone with high cholesterol "stop lying"? Would you tell someone with an ear infection "you have so much to be happy about, stop thinking about your ear"?


Yet people struggling with mental illness are regularly dismissed, their symptoms minimized, their struggles trivialized. Further, the stigma and shame associated with mental illness often keeps people quiet, which can make things worse, not better.


Sometimes just listening and NOT offering advice is so much more effective than you know. If you feel like you have to say something, you might try, "What are some things that have been helpful for you?"


Do you know how much courage and strength it takes someone, in the face of shame and stigma, to open up about their challenges? In my humble opinion they are some of the strongest and most courageous people you will ever meet.


I hope you have a great day and, if for some reason you don't, I hope you have some people in your life that will come alongside and support you!

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