We all live with a certain level of stigmas we carry about certain issues or persons as we go about our lives. Stigmas are biases about certain persons or conditions that are generally formed by our culture in which we are raised, but at times also by personal experiences. Stigmas are in the same category as prejudices, those realities we are sometimes unaware of which guide our thoughts and actions on an often-subconscious level.

            May is national Mental Health Awareness month. Mental Illness is one of those areas of life highly affected by the realities of stigmatization.  The following quotes from Dr. David Satcher highlight both the difficulties and the hopes surrounding those living with mental illness today.

           "Stigmatization of people with mental disorders is manifested by bias, distrust, stereotyping, fear, embarrassment, anger, and/or avoidance. Stigma leads the (public) to avoid people with mental disorders. It reduces access to resources and leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking, and wanting to pay for care. Stigma results in outright discrimination and abuse. More tragically, it deprives people of their dignity and interferes with their full participation in society."

          “…One in five Americans struggles with a mental illness in any given year, fewer than half receive the right kind of treatment. Those who fail to get good care are held back by enduring stigma, a fragmented system of mental health care delivery and financial strains. Mental illness is as real as heart disease; patients can benefit from new treatments and medications and can recover. New drugs and therapies have vastly improved the outlook for the 5 million or so people with the most severe mental illnesses. People should expect to do better than they've ever done in the past." --U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher

            The problem with this particular stigma, as with all stigmas, is that it breeds fear, both for those affected by mental illness, and for the communities within which they live. The stigmatized carry fear of disclosing their struggles, thereby isolating themselves, which often leads to deepening the effects of the illness. The fear carried by the stigmatizers affect their ability to engage those with illness, depriving themselves of potentially rich relationships, and those with illness of potential allies in their recovery.

            I think the gospel has something to say in relation to this reality.  1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” May we come to be shaped by, and live our lives in response to, the healing, perfecting love of God.

            May we grow (and bust stigmas) in God’s love,