Slowly over the years it has begun to change but still it is not common to talk about our panic attacks (one in four people suffer these at some stage of their lives) or our depression (how would that affect your promotion at work?) or the grief you are feeling simply because your wonderful dog died.
We have become, to some extent, a society that “soldiers on”. In doing so we bury our feelings and illnesses, and surround ourselves with shame instead of understanding and healing.
Centuries ago the stigmatised illness was leprosy or syphilis; now it’s cancer, HIV or mental disorders. Over the years healthy people have tended to fear anyone different. This has prevented a lot of people from seeking help and caused much shame as people hide their illnesses. It has hampered research, treatment and proper care and reflected in people’s jobs, income, life and health insurance. Often the person wants to prevent that awkward feeling of having told someone who doesn’t know how to handle it, or prevent it from becoming the topic of gossip at work.
Usually the cause for our alienation of people is ignorance and fear. Some people even think the malady is a punishment for a certain type of behaviour, such as in alcoholism, drug addiction or sexual diseases. This segregated view dates back to the leper colonies. When HIV/AIDS was discovered many would have done the same with HIV sufferers and isolated them somewhere. Even when cancer was first discovered, lack of knowledge made people think it may be contagious, and even now in some places it’s whispered that the person has cancer rather than openly discussed.
Many illnesses that remain stigmatised, such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, ADHD or addictions to drugs, alcohol and even overweight and incontinence, are part of this list. How many times do people snicker about an overweight person behind their back? How many times do people hide their fear of going in a plane or driving on a motorway? What they don’t realise is how common this is.
The result is that many people won’t speak out or seek treatment due to shame or guilt. They feel they are weird in some way because we, in our society, don’t speak openly enough of these issues. People don’t realise there is much they can do to help themselves, be it traditional medications, natural care or even just tests to see where they stand.
There are also many cancers that people feel guilty about, in terms of the fact that they feel they may have caused them by their behaviour. What they don’t realise is that illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can occur due to a gene mutation in people that have never even smoked.
This attitude also often pervades research done into certain illnesses. An example is lung cancer. Sufferers of this type of cancer do not have a long life expectancy, so the money goes to other cancers where the lifespan is longer, although so many die from lung cancer. This hampers progress to find a cure. The same happened with HIV and it wasn’t until activists lobbied that there came an influx of dollars.
Another problem with stigmatised illnesses is that people are afraid to tell their employers they are ill as they fear there will be repercussions at work, although many employers are sensitive to their needs. People fear retrenchment, being denied promotions and also denial of health insurance benefits.
However, as time goes on, the picture regarding sick people being stigmatised is slowly changing. More money than ever is being spent on research and there is a wellness mindset sweeping Australia with people interested in regaining and maintaining their health. It’s becoming more about prevention, with a balance of right food, enough filtered water, enough sleep, rest, relaxation and exercise, rather than finding a cure.
It’s important to speak up if you are ill, not only for your own benefit but also for others around you who are perhaps suffering also, in silence. None of us is perfect and it is okay to be human. Hopefully we will progress as a nation to the point where people are allowed to be human to the extent that they are no longer afraid to seek help for their illnesses and addictions. This not only benefits them but the whole nation in terms of sharing common goals for health and development.
