Understanding and Overcoming the Stigma around Mood Disorders

Mood disorders can be understood as severe disruptions in emotions and moods that impair many aspects of your life. The oscillation of severity ranges from severely low (depression) to extremely high (mania). Some mood disorders include 

• Bipolar Disorder 

• Major Depressive Disorder

• Cyclothymia

• Hypomania

• Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder

The symptoms of these disorders vary from person to person. If you’re looking to learn more about and are confused about how to seek help, talk to our mental health coach over a free 20-30 minute call.

Also read: What You Should Know About Cyclothymia

Understanding the Stigma around Mood Disorders

Stigma is the disapproval of or discrimination against a person or a group based on the characteristics that distinguish them from others. The stigma around mood disorders can be understood in 3 ways - social stigma, self-stigma, and institutional stigma. 

Social stigma includes the negative attitudes that others have about mental disorders. Self-stigma is when you internalise the negative attitude and the shame associated with your condition. Institutional stigma refers to government and private institutions’ policies that perceive mental disorders in a negative light.

Mental disorders are a long way from being accepted the way physical health problems are accepted. It is unfortunate that resources for mental health care are not as efficiently allocated as in other health care facilities. This can lead you to be more hesitant about seeking help and adhering to treatment recommendations. Sometimes disclosing your diagnosis may lead to avoidance, open discrimination, or even harassment by others.

This can make you feel hopeless, lower your self-esteem, create more difficulties at work, and in your personal relationships, and even worsen the symptoms of the mood disorder. You can feel left out and hopeless about never being able to improve your situation or be able to succeed and live a fulfilling life.

Also read: Think Your Depression’s Getting Worse? Here’s How to Tell

It can be challenging to actively seek help and choose to heal in the face of negative attitudes associated with mental disorders by society. Hence, a primary undertaking of mood disorder rehabilitation is to bring you out of discrimination and isolation. It focuses on reintegrating you into social contexts that empower you and improve your relationship with yourself, your family, and others. It shows you how you are worthy of being accepted and capable of overcoming challenges with the right treatment and support.

Also read: Treatment for Mood Disorders

Ways to overcome the stigma around mood disorders

Psychoeducate yourself and others

Psychoeducation is the process of you and your loved ones learning about the nature of your mental disorder, its prognosis, impact, treatment options, and so on. You respond better to treatment options, actively engage in the treatment plan, and are less likely to relapse. 

You can ask your therapist or your psychiatrist about the early signs of a mood disorder relapse to communicate better with your friends and family. This will help others to see you more realistically rather than as a source of fear and angst.

If you’re with a group and notice that there are some misconceptions about mood disorders being shared, educate yourself and others by fact-checking. Misperceptions or negative comments towards any mental disorder should be responded to by sharing relevant facts and experiences and should not be taken lightly. 

Also read: How to Talk to Your Loved Ones About Your Mental Health Diagnosis

Speak up and choose your words carefully

If you notice someone making fun of or putting down someone with a mental disorder, speak up. Being assertive and making others aware of the discrimination faced by people with mood disorders is important to break the stigma. It also gives others going through a similar experience the motivation to help themselves.

The way you approach talking about mental disorders also matters. Using mental disorders as an adjective indicates that the person is the disorder. No one is a mental disorder. We are all individuals with many facets and someone’s mental disorder is only one of their facets.  Hence, it is necessary to separate the person from the mental disorder.

For instance, instead of saying, “My friend is bipolar”, you can move towards saying, “My friend has bipolar disorder.”

Also read: How Does Bipolar Disorder Affect Relationships

Beware of the Trivilasation of Mental Disorders on Media

Entertainment and news media both provide overwhelmingly dramatic and misguided portrayals of mental disorders. These portrayals mostly highlight the dangerousness and unpredictability of mental disorders such subjects the group to rejection and ridicule. 

When certain media that portrays a mental disorder in an unrealistically negative way reaches a large group, it can make it very difficult for you to accept yourself, seek help, and adhere to your medication and treatment plan.

Remember that you are not a distorted image of your mental disorder and your story matters. The misrepresentation of your mental disorder in media does not trivialise your experience with the condition.  Remember kindness and compassion during the process go a long way. 

Also read: How Important is Self-care to Your Overall Mental Health?