517: The Stigma of Anxiety and Mental Health Challenges
This week we're talking about stigma and how can it affect us when we’re living with anxiety.
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Notes from the show:
What is stigma and how can it affect us when we’re living with anxiety?
Stigma exists between individuals as a perception of difference. When that idea of difference is applied to our mental health it can lead to feelings of isolation, or the pain of feeling perceived as weak, or less able to cope.
Some believe that anxiety is not a real condition, many believe that anxiety is something that can, and should, be snapped out of.
This negative perception often leads to someone suffering greatly with anxiety trying to mask it and avoid sharing their challenges or seeking support.
“Stigma marks a person as ‘different’. The World Health Organisation defines stigma as ‘a mark of shame, disgrace or disapproval which results in an individual being rejected, discriminated against, and excluded from participating in a number of different areas of society.”
The problem with stigma is that it's born from a sense of separateness, it’s a non-compassionate stance that reflects poorly on the person projecting an opinion that the suffering of others can be switched off at will.
Anxiety makes us doubt ourselves and stigma deepens that doubt
When trying to cope with anxiety we may already worry that we are not doing well in our work or relationships, we may struggle with concentration and find uncertainty difficult. Being met with stigma increases the struggles that are already there with anxiety.
Anxiety often comes with a strong fear of rejection that stigma highlights too, instead of feeling safe to reach out for help or share our struggles we may isolate.
What helps?
Respond with self-compassion. Know that anxiety is very real and you are not weak.
Seek support where you feel safe. If you are met with stigma from someone, they are not the person to share with, neither are they qualified to hear you. Anxiety is a life-altering condition that deserves support from someone who understands what you’re going through and can hear out with respect and without judgement.
“Stigma is a brittle perception that doesn’t make allowances for the formative experience of others. Many of us are carrying trauma, many struggle with anxiety daily, stigma bypasses connection and understanding.”
Gain understanding on the nature of the mind from compassionate teachings. Ayurveda — India’s ancient science of life — teaches that the mind is delicate and easily disturbed. It also teaches that we don’t all have the same level of mental resilience, but this isn’t seen as a weakness, rather a tendency, or quality in the mind that needs and deserves support.
Eastern sciences like Ayurveda, Yoga and Energy Psychology — the science behind EFT Tapping — all give an understanding on the impact of anxiety and trauma, they also offer support on how to release trauma and anxiety.
Stigma is a poor perception
It reflects more heavily on the one who cannot extend their mind and heart and show compassion than the one who suffers with anxiety.
Anxiety feels real and awful enough, once you’ve felt it, you know it. That’s why working with an anxiety coach can be helpful, a coach knows anxiety well and can offer support and understanding along with the tools and techniques that can help you regain resilience and calm.
To celebrate our 11th anniversary producing the anxiety slayer podcast, we are offering all of our courses in the Anxiety Slayer Academy for 1/2 price use the coupon code: halfpricesale through the month of October.