If you're (or have been in the past) suffering from a mental illness, does it hurt you

@Mamapolo2016 It's even worse that a lot of people can't "come out" and ask for help even though they desperately need it just because of the stigma...

@Melpomene I agree. It's cheap and it's nasty in my opinion and words like slut are in common usage but are offensive and misogynistic. We should be striving for positive reinforcement.

In my opinion, the way to correct that is to ease up about discussion about it - even casual, misinformed discussion. It is unrealistic to expect the average person - even if they HAVE a mental illness, to use correct, clinical terms. It’s unrealistic to expect the average person to be able to speak about it ‘acceptably.’

But you didn’t ask whether it was a good or bad thing to do. You asked if it hurt, and no, it doesn’t.

@Melpomene

@Mamapolo2016 Was I supposed to ask that? I didn't really thought of that. Isn't it a bad thing though, the person is making a (quite) possibly wrong conclusion about a stranger and is using a term in a derogatory way? What do you think?

You are supposed to ask whatever you want to ask.

If you listen to conversation in general, you will realize a LOT of what you hear is derogatory, such as what Hasnita mentioned.

“He’s a dick, she’s a bitch, he’s a whiner, she’s a thief, she’s a narcissist, he’s a control freak...”

Most of it is based on nothing more than the speaker’s opinion - and it’s all damaging. While it’s good to encourage others to use less judgmental and destructive language, it’s counter-productive to take hurt from what silly people say. @Melpomene

@Mamapolo2016 But what if it's a person that I know and that is (usually) non-judgemental? Is it a good facade? Our mentality? 🤷‍♀️

@Melpomene Ultra sensitive people will feel hurt I guess.

Or maybe they’re hamhandedly trying to express a concern - that there’s a need for intervention. @Melpomene

@Mamapolo2016 You can hear the difference between the two in the intonation. If that were the case you'd hear worry in their voice.

@Hasmita What about people that are missing help because of the stigma? Or lack of understanding of normal people?

@Melpomene That's why I say we should be striving towards positive reinforcement and recognising that we are all human and have our situations which need healing. Unfortunately too many are not sufficiently spiritually evolved to be able to offer support and others resort to verbal abuse.
So I agree we should call it out if possible and try to negate the stigma.