Masks Off! by Susan L.

On the news last night, there was a story about a growing collaboration of people who want the name schizophrenic changed. This is because of the terrible, punitive stigma that comes with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Quick question: what does that name bring to mind? Let's face it. Labels hurt. Stereotypes hurt. Assumptions hurt. All they do is fan the fires of fear and distrust. I know several people saddled with this diagnosis. None of them are ax murderers or wandering the streets. They are intelligent, articulate people with lives like you and I. They have spouses, children, and jobs. They get angry, sad, and can laugh at a good joke. Sounds human to me. What really bothers me is that any label associated with mental illness supercedes a human identity. We become an illness. I don't think that happens with people fighting cancer or lupus or the flu. Well, maybe people with the flu get shunned. It's catchable. Mental illness isn't. "But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves." Acts 18:15