Stigma is relative, socially and culturally determined, and dynamic. Consequently, stigma is a difficult concept to operationally define. This is important because definitions shape and directly impact efforts to research and reduce stigma. In 2014, the RAND National Defense Research Institute published an extensive assessment of stigma-reduction strategies within the DoD (Acosta et al., 2014).
Stigma against people with mental health conditions has a significant impact that extends beyond stereotypes. Fellow CDP'er Dr. Paula Dominici’s blog article a few weeks ago detailed some specific ways Service members with mental health conditions are affected by social perceptions about their fitness for duty, as well as how their own self perceptions impede help seeking and negatively impact emotional wellbeing.
It was happening again. Following another humid South Carolina rain, I sat beside my 6-year old sister, Trinh, who was having a “spell” – what we now know was some type of re-experiencing or panic attack - likely related to her boat escape from Vietnam just 10 days following the fall of Saigon. At the time, I could only do what my 5-year old self thought was best. Hold her hand, get the dog, tell her everything was going to be alright and wait for the spell to pass
In the wake of Kate Spade’s and Anthony Bourdain’s suicides last month and the news surrounding their deaths, I can’t help but wonder if stigma about getting mental health care may have deterred these talented individuals from seeking the help they deserved. These tragic events also led me to rethink stigma and its impact on Service members and Veterans.
June is PTSD Awareness Month. So I decided to dip into the research to get a sense of how “aware” people are about PTSD. One thing I discovered: awareness is likely insufficient for the changes needed to adequately address the problem that many with PTSD do not recognize they have a behavioral health condition that requires treatment to avoid short- and long-term problems. Ideally, everyone should be able to recognize someone who is traumatized and, as with suicide, talk with them in an empathic manner to encourage them to get help.