By Colleen Coffey, Matt Mattson, and Shane L. Windmeyer
at any given time. So why did people think things like this? Why do I sometimes even today find myself whispering about a friend who is “a hot mess” or “off her rocker?” Why do we have all the energy in the world to gossip but no energy to truly understand and help? The answer: stigma.
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raternity and sorority members battle stigmas every day. While some students are met with stigma because they are different than what is considered mainstream, many organizations also battle the negative stigma that surrounds fraternity/sorority life as a whole. Professionals are often left feeling powerless when advising students to fight against these seemingly insurmountable stigmas. This article provides a practical response to combating the negative stigmas that surround individuals and fraternity/sorority life – personal stories. In the following paragraphs, three AFA Associate members will share their personal stories along with strategies for using these stories to combat stigma. Your challenge is to help students develop and disseminate their personal stories to change the minds of their public.
The Stigma Associated with Mental Health Issues | Colleen Coffey, The National Mental Health Awareness Campaign & CAMPUSPEAK, Inc. I’m in the middle of Greek Week 2000 at Belmont University. Alpha Sigma Tau has just won the coveted title of “Greek Sing Champions,” and it looks like we may take the whole week. I’m hanging out with one of my sisters when my phone rings. I pick it up to hear my mother in distress at the other end. My parents, who had been married for 23 years, were getting a divorce and nothing was ever going to be the same again. I have experienced depression, anxiety, and body image issues for as long as I can remember. My parents’ divorce propelled my mother into the hospital, drove my father half-way across the country, and triggered a panic and sadness inside of me that was so strong my heart skips a beat even as I describe it now almost nine years later. I was terrified, a little paranoid, and felt like I was going to die. I had an intense amount of trouble managing
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Perspectives / Spring 2009
my emotions, going to class, or sustaining any semblance of healthy connection in my romantic relationship. I had a panic attack that lasted more than a week. It eventually subsided on its own, but that experience changed me significantly. I did not seek out the help I needed and as a result was in and out of wellness my last two years of college. I was, however, able to excel at sorority life. That was always the one thing that I enjoyed most and where I felt most at home. My sorority was supportive and nurturing, but there were always a few women who were very threatened by both my enthusiasm and my emotions. There were a handful of members and professionals that felt like I should not be in any sort of leadership role because of my emotional struggles. They believed that I was likely to be admitted into a mental hospital at any time; that I was crazy and unbalanced. My mental health issues did not preclude me from being a very effective student leader. They did not cause me to carry an ax in my car, or mean that I was liable to blow up
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 26.2 percent of adults 18 and older will suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder each year (NIMH, n.d.). Still, nearly 66 percent of people with diagnosable mental disorders do not seek treatment (Regier et al, 1993; Kessler et al, 1996; Kessler et al, 2005), even though 80 to 90 percent of individuals who do seek treatment see a vast improvement in their symptoms, even among those with the most severe mental disorders (Sathcer, 1999). I sought help, I still seek help, and luckily I am one of those whose symptoms have improved. We know these issues are real, but a majority of young people do not seek help in large part because of the stigma attached to it (Sussman, Robins, & Earls, 1987; CooperPatrick et al, 1997). Further, these individuals are faced with people in their lives who see them as being crazy, dangerous, and lessthan-human. This stigma is a powerful force. Dr. Pat Corrigan, co-author of the 2001 book Don’t Call Me Nuts, and his colleagues studied three different approaches to reducing stigma: protest, education, and contact. Protest is the “shame on you” method, an educator telling people not to think poorly of people with mental illness, because they have a chemical imbalance in their brains and it is not their fault. Education is about communicating data-driven facts regarding the issue in hopes of educating people about the realities. Contact is about personal story telling, such as having a person with a mental disorder who knows the freedom of wellness discuss his/her struggles and successes and the normalcy of his/her life after seeking help. Dr. Corrigan (2004) found that contact was the most effective method for stigma reduction. As an educator, while it is not professional to share your entire personal life and all of your struggles, it may be beneficial to disclose a certain struggle or time of triumph to a student who may be going through the same thing. Perhaps more importantly, telling our personal stories can also change the minds of those who hold stigmas against us.