First of all, thank you for clicking the link that brought you here. That tells us you’re curious. Curiosity is the first step in acquiring new knowledge and learning or changing our existing awareness.
People’s beliefs are hard things to give up or change. Often beliefs are formed from negative experiences sometime in our past. Sometimes beliefs are shaped from old ideas, concepts or information that no longer stands the test of the latest science evidence-based knowledge.
The outcome can be that our views stigmatize people we think meet our perceptions of how we see things in the world.
When we stigmatize other people, we minimize them as humans no matter the reason. That helps us feel superior, to feel that somehow they’re inferior – either because they are bad people or somehow morally deficient in our minds.
We have some great resources for you to explore how many of us stigmatize people with mental health or substance use disorder.
- A Personal Story – He Didn’t Choose This
- A Personal Story – How Stigma Destroyed A Father
- Understanding Addiction – Winning The Lotto, Every Damn Single Time
- Three Strikes and You’re Out!
- Addition & Stigma Is Everyone’s Struggle
- Here to Help BC
- Central East Addiction Technology Transfer Center Guide to Reducing Addiction-Related Stigma
- Centre for Addiction & Mental Health CAMH – Addiction Overview Stigma
- Ending The Stigma of Opioid Use Disorder
- Free Online Course from CAMH – Understanding Stigma
- Learning Moments – A repository of articles on everything related to Mental Health And Substance Disorder