Title: How the Stigma Around Mental Illness Medication Prevents People from Seeking Help | Shape
Headings: The Stigma Around Psychiatric Medication Is Forcing People to Suffer In Silence
The Stigma Around Psychiatric Medication Is Forcing People to Suffer In Silence
The Origin of the Stigma
An Early Look at Mental Health
Survival of the Fitt...ing In
Systemic Stigma
Threat of Discrimination
Racial Barriers
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Social Stigma
The Silent Treatment
Guilt By Association
American Culture
The "Label" Problem
Medication Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
Medical Concerns
Fear of Addiction and Medical Double Standards
Fear of Side Effects
Misinformation About "Natural" Approaches
What Does "Natural" Mean?
You Don't Have to Choose Between Natural and Pharmaceutical
Sometimes Both Is Better
How to Overcome the Stigma
Talk About It
Vocabulary Is Important
Educate Yourself and Others
Take Care of Yourself

Content: Discrimination against patients who need to take certain medication only serves to deepen the stigma and elongate the distance between 'health' and 'mental health,' when they're actually one and the same. Treating psychiatric medication differently than, say, an antispasmodic medication (used for IBS) or blood pressure medication, subversively yet powerfully keeps the world of mental health separate, and those who are in it feel othered; somehow different from every other patient receiving care for other types of health issues. This is further compounded when insurance companies force you to go through a different company to find a psychiatrist versus oncologist or family physician and then deny coverage for treatments and prescriptions. "These are all forms of individual, systemic, and structural stigmatization built into our culture and institutions," says Dr. Herrick. " Insurers may look at a prescription a