Is talking about mental health stigma stigmatising?

[ClumpingBambooIsALie]

I feel like the word "stigma" is very frequently used about issues relating to mental health where, if the issue was something else, words like prejudice and discrimination would more usually be used. If I Google it and go to the news tab (in incognito mode, in the hope that will prevent my web history having an effect), well over half the articles mentioning stigma are linked with mental health, including substance problems and dementia. Going back to the main search, the definition it gives me is 'a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. "the stigma of having gone to prison will always be with me"'

DAE think that the current strong yoking of the concept of stigma with mental health problems is potentially counterproductive, characterising mental health problems as being particularly well described as carrying a mark of disgrace, that it kind of places the locus of the problem within those suffering from mental health problems (as opposed to prejudice, which places the problem in society more broadly) and that it would be better if we talked more specifically about what we mean e.g. prejudice, discrimination, embarrassment, shame, fear etc.?

I think it's a shorthand way of acknowledging that mental health issues are seeing as pretty much universally negative, both by those that have them and those that don't. That's different from something like race or sex, which are the kinds of comparators you are thinking of?

Thinking of comparators like (physical) disability, being a refugee, etc. — things which pretty much nobody wants to happen to them, but which aren't quite so ubiquitously linked with the word "stigma". Yes, it's used, but not to the extent it's used for mental health problems.

Sometimes stigma is the correct word — when the main issue arises from the fact that people think those with characteristic x are shameful, then yes, use stigma. But it seems like it's the word people automatically reach for whenever they want to discuss prejudice and discrimination specifically against people with mental health problems, or the embarrassment or fear of negative repercussions experienced by those with mental health problems. It feels lazy to me, automatically reaching for the word that says "this is a problem because the mentally ill carry a mark of shame". Discrimination and prejudice are clearer, and more comparable to the way most other issues are described.

I think the word stigma is more correct than discrimination, though. People do discriminate against people who are mentally unwell, but there is a stigma from having had a mental health problem which continues long after you have recovered.

Sure, I just find the overtones… kind of unpleasant. I'd like it to be treated like any other illness or disability, where, if someone treats me badly even years after I've recovered, it's put down to a flaw on their part (prejudice) rather than a mark of shame on me, IYSWIM.

Where "stigma" is the best description of what's going on then sure, but a lot of times it's used where other more specific words would be appropriate to to the circumstances, like, say, fear of discrimination. I'm not sure that the best way to remove stigma is to constantly reinforce that there's a stigma i.e. an invisible mark that's metaphorically located on or within people with mental health problems. The problem is with all of us, not just the people who are marked with the metaphorical stigma.

I have found all the talk about mental health has been centred around depression/ anxiety.
Both something your GP can deal with. Both seem like acceptable things to talk about with friend and family.
No mention to the more serious things like bipolar, schizophrenia or personality disorders. There is still a ton of stigma around them.