Tag: stigma

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Opinions

Breaking the silence

Graphic by Carleen Loney @shloneys

Overcoming mental health struggles in the shadows of stigma.

*Trigger warning: suicide.*

I’m alive. 

That was my first bewildered thought in the aftermath of my suicide attempt. Today, I peel back the layers of secrecy to share one of the darkest chapters of my life, not as a tale of despair, but as a beacon of resilience and transformation. My journey from the brink of death to survival is not just my story—it is a testament to the critical importance of seeking help for mental health struggles, especially amidst the suffocating grasp of societal stigma.

For years, I masked my pain behind a facade of normalcy, mastering the art of deception. Each day was a balancing act between the desperate yearning for peace and the flickering ember of hope that urged me to hold on. But after nearly a decade of silent suffering, that ember of hope was finally extinguished. I had exhausted every ounce of strength, every glimmer of resilience, leaving behind a hollow shell of despair.

The weight of my mental anguish was compounded by the paralyzing fear of societal judgment. I was gripped by the insidious notion that seeking help would only burden others or worse, brand me as a social pariah. This fear kept me shackled in silence, imprisoned in a labyrinth of despair with no escape in sight.

As a young adult navigating academia, the pressure to excel only added fuel to my inner turmoil. Each day was a relentless cycle of academic rigor and emotional turmoil, with no respite in sight. The weight of expectations bore down upon me like a heavy yoke, crushing my spirit.

But amidst the darkness, a lifeline was extended to me in my hour of need. The wellness program at Concordia University offered a sanctuary of solace, a safe haven. Through mindfulness sessions and counseling services, I found a beacon of light, a guiding hand to lead me out of the abyss.

However, my journey is not just about survival—it is about breaking the silence and challenging the stigma surrounding mental health struggles. For far too long, society has shrouded these issues in secrecy and shame, perpetuating a culture of silence that suffocates those in need of help.

As teenagers and young adults, we are tasked with dismantling the barriers that stand in the way of mental health awareness and support. Initiatives at Concordia University, such as the Zen Dens, wellness programs, mindfulness sessions, and Counseling and Psychological Services, serve as examples of what is possible when we prioritize mental health and well-being.

But our work is far from over. We must actively implement strategies to improve access to mental health resources and support services, both within our schools and communities. One effective approach is to establish dedicated mental health support centers or hotlines staffed by trained professionals who can offer immediate assistance to those in need. Additionally, integrating mental health education into school curriculums can help raise awareness and reduce stigma from a young age.

To my fellow survivors, I say this: You are not alone. Your struggles do not define you. And together, we can break the silence and light the path toward healing and hope.

It is not easy to come forward and share one’s struggles with mental health. The fear of being judged or dismissed can be paralyzing, trapping us in a cycle of silence and shame. But it is precisely this fear that we must confront head-on, for our own sake and that of countless others who may be suffering in silence.

Young adults, in particular, face unique challenges when it comes to mental health. The pressures of academic success, social acceptance, and uncertain futures can weigh heavily on our shoulders, exacerbating existing struggles and making it even harder to reach out for help. Yet, it is crucial that we are taken seriously and that our voices are heard when we speak up about our mental health needs.

Every day, more than 200 people attempt suicide in Canada, a staggering statistic that underscores the urgent need for greater awareness and support for mental health issues. Behind each of these attempts lies a story that deserves to be heard and acknowledged.

As we strive to break the silence surrounding mental health struggles, let us also work to create a more compassionate and understanding society—one where seeking help is seen as a sign of strength rather than weakness, and where no one is left to fight their battles alone. Together, we can pave the way toward a brighter, more hopeful future for all.

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News

A conversation about mental health in BIPOC communities at Concordia

The Haitian Student Association of Concordia partnered up with mental health groups to destigmatize mental illness in BIPOC communities.

On Nov. 8, the Haitian Student Association of Concordia collaborated with My Mental Health Matters and Stronger than Stigma to host an open discussion about mental health in Black, Indigenous, People of Colour communities (BIPOC) through an event called “It’s Not All In Your Head.”

“We’re broadcasting the message that anyone struggling, both emotionally or physically, isn’t alone,” said Stronger than Stigma President, Jillian Caplan. “That’s so important, especially in a high stress, academic environment. A dynamic conversation is a key component of mental health advocacy, so the best way to tackle the stigma surrounding mental illness is to talk about it.”

Three speakers candidly shared their struggle with mental health as part of the Stronger Stories segment of the event.

Jean Felando Noël, one of the speakers, said the event gave him the opportunity to be a voice for people who share his identity, by being a man, and by being someone from the Haitian community.

“I feel like some people kind of stay in the dark about how they feel, until they have somebody who steps forward and shares their story with others,” said Noël. “It shows them that it’s okay to speak, it’s okay to force yourself – so I honestly wanted to be here to be a voice [for] people; to be the voice of others who probably don’t have the chance of talking.”

Annick Maugile Flavien, the founding coordinator for the Black Perspective Initiative and co-moderator of the conversation, said it’s especially important to talk about mental health and illness in communities who tend to avoid acknowledging it.

In some racialized communities, “mental health is stigmatized in ways that are beyond just our family and friend dynamics, but also rooted in deeper colonial histories, and ideas of race, and religion-all of these things make for a very complicated individual life that is tied to a larger history,” said Maugile Flavien.

Off-campus mental health resources for BIPOC community

  • You can find a list of BIPOC mental health professionals here
  • There is an ongoing list of Black mental health professionals you can access here
  • My Mental Health Matters

Off-campus mental health resources 

  • Argyle Institute
  • The Emotional Mental Health Centre CBT Clinic
  • The Montreal Therapy Centre

On-campus resources 

  • Zen Dens
  • Concordia Students’ Nightline
  • Empower Me
  • Stronger than Stigma

“I really wanted to get a sense of what the emotional climate is with students at Concordia right now, and learn from their wisdom, and learn from their stories and be sensitized to what’s happening in people’s daily lives, in faces that we see everyday,” said Maugile Flavien.

 

Photo by Cecilia Piga

Categories
Opinions

How drug use and addiction is covered by media

When I was a kid, I was told not to do drugs and the conversation ended there. If the “war on drugs” has taught us anything, it is that eliminating all drugs and forcing drug use into a specific box is both impossible and a drastic oversimplification. The rhetoric surrounding drug use currently leads to an unproductive and isolating conversation – a conversation missing one key player: drug users.

As reporters, storytellers and the ‘watchdogs of society’ we have failed time and time again at reporting on drug use. We reach out to medical professionals and policymakers, but there is a hole in this story. We wouldn’t report on someone’s art without reaching out to the artist or cover a house fire without speaking with homeowners, so why do we report on drugs without going to the source?

Harm Reduction Practitioner, Coordinator, Researcher and drug user, with the pseudonym A.C. Abbot, explains how media is missing the mark.

“The media basically doesn’t think of drug users as having opinions or expertise,” Abbot told The Concordian. They explained that we exist in a society where drug users are seen as “crazy” and “out of control.”

“The fact that drug users are denied authority and legitimacy when literally writing about drug use and drug users is telling,” added Abbot.

Journalists are feeding the biased narrative that authorities have painted for us. The media needs to approach the drug topic in a way that depicts the misconceptions of drug laws.

“Our system of drug laws is not based on scientific information about drugs,” Maia Szalavitz said, a writer from The Columbia Journalism Review. Jay Levy, the Deputy Director of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), explained that drug users are still being criminalized, without evidence that this attitude is in any way a productive one. Levy added that even though there are risks when using drugs, the main harm comes from laws and policies.
The judicial system, “along with their justificatory social construction and stigmas,” he continued, “are responsible for driving and worsening many of these avoidable harms.”

Portugal is often used as an example when talking about drug use and policy. The government decriminalised all drugs in 2001 and, according to the Guardian, “HIV infection plummeted from an all-time high in 2000 of 104.2 new cases per million to 4.2 cases per million in 2015.”

Although the change in law ignited a more productive conversation, it did not exist in a vacuum. Susana Ferreira, a Portuguese-Canadian freelance writer, explained that this recovery was more complex than just a change in the law.

“In many ways, the law was merely a reflection of transformations that are already happening in clinics, in pharmacies and around the kitchen tables across the country,” Ferreira wrote in a Guardian article in 2017.

A.C. Abbot thinks Portugal needs to go farther.

“It’s better to be stuck in a doctor’s office than to be stuck in a jail cell,” said Abbot, but then also explained that it’s important to be aware of the imperfect nature of medical care. Abbot said we must recognize that this environment can be a controlling one and does not always advocate for people’s autonomy. “The barriers are not only everywhere and holistic, but interweave and pulse with every other kind of prejudice.”

Although the world should be looking to Portugal in terms of drug laws, it’s crucial to continue to investigate the complexity of the situation.

“The questions aren’t just to transition from criminalization to medicalization, but it is to transition from stigmatization and problematization to autonomy,” said Abbot.

As a product of our society, I am guilty of stigmatizing drug users and drug addicts. I need to continue to push back against this stigma. This conversation leads to dehumanization and unfair treatment surrounding drug users and addicts. We must stop absorbing information at face value and learn more about the ethical discrepancies of the law. We must lean in and listen to harm reduction experts, drug users and others who are actively involved and affected by the drug stigma. We must let them lead the conversation.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Opinions

Health professionals attempting to Fight Weight Stigma

For far too long, weight has been used as a health indicator. This inaccurate measurement has irresponsible and widespread repercussions for both physical and mental health.

As our understanding of health and well-being develops, I believe we need to continue to think critically and resist the stigma that bigger bodies do not hold the same value as smaller bodies.

In my opinion, the stigma surrounding weight places healthcare professionals such as dieticians in a difficult position; as research about health care and body image continue to evolve, they are faced with the challenge of misinformation. As experts in this field, they are tasked with redefining wellness, while also dealing with the burden of undoing the incorrect assumptions that exist about weight bias. This in itself could be a full time job.

According to Obesity Canada, weight bias is a negative attitude and view targeted at those who are living in larger bodies. This bias seeps into every crevice of society, distorting our perception of health and beauty. According to ABC news, the stigma on larger bodies creates distain and impatience from society.

“Doctors have shorter appointments with fat patients and show less emotional rapport in the minutes they do have,” said Michael Hobbes in an article for the Huffington Post.

There is an implication that weight is a choice, and thinness equals health. We know that weight loss and health are not that simple. This misconception speaks to a systemic issue of idolizing smaller bodies and dehumanizing those in larger ones.

Bianca Santaromita-Villa, a Dietitian working in Ontario, explains that her job is often misconstrued as “diet police.” Santaromita-Villa says that the goal for her practice, as a health-at-every-size professional, has nothing to do with dieting. She helps support her clients by ensuring they are getting the nutrients they need on an individual basis.

Through her experience, Santaromita-Villa has learned that the topic of body image and weight is emotional for a client. Some health care professionals simply focus on weight when it comes to health advice. Santaromita-Villa explains that this approach reinforces the weight stigma, and evidence shows that it is damaging for a client’s health, psychologically and socially.
Santaromita-Villa uses the example of a patient with knee pain. If a doctor simply tells a patient to lose weight, it frustrates them, and will likely result in them blaming themselves for their situation.

Alternatively, Santaromita-Villa explains, this same patient could have arthritis, which could be unrelated to losing weight, contrary to the doctor’s oversimplification.

Weight is not a health indicator. There are many factors that influence weight, and to project a conclusive health analysis using weight is deceptive and irresponsible. Santaromita-Villa explains, “someone in a larger body could be consuming the exact same thing as someone in a smaller body, doing the same exercises, and they are still going to live in that larger body.”

Moving away from using weight as a measurement of success, one of the strategies Santaromita-Villa uses is to provide the client with “modifiable factors.” These are tangible factors that the client can use to track their progress. For example, they could measure their simple sugar intake using the amount of pop they drink, and track their consumption over a two month period.

She explains that these “modifiable factors” allow the client to measure their progress with elements that they can control. “Weight can go where it wants to go, sometimes it’s in our control, sometimes it’s not.”

For every weight loss ad, juice cleanse, and photoshopped beauty magazine, there’s a healthcare expert trying their best to push an agenda of healthy and sustainable living, by removing the element of weight. Santaromita-Villa says that the shift toward a healthier concept of wellness starts with small changes and informing ourselves on how these misconceptions are dangerous not only to our bodies, but our self worth as well.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Opinions

The misconceptions of marijuana

Graphic by @spooky_soda

Analyzing the misplaced stigma surrounding cannabis consumption

After years of debate, marijuana is finally legal in Canada. On Oct. 17, the first dispensaries opened across the country. This is a massive step toward not only making pot safer and more accessible, but also ensuring a degree of product quality that couldn’t be guaranteed in an unregulated market. That being said, I believe significant progress is still needed in regard to the elimination of the stigma associated with marijuana use.

Certainly, cannabis is by no means a product without fault. Just like everything else, overuse of marijuana can have serious side-effects. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry noted that acute cannabis consumption at a young age has been linked with the inhibition of psychomotor skills, short-term memory, and minor cognitive functions.

There have also been studies aimed at examining and contrasting the overuse of marijuana at a young age with the development of certain mental disorders. While there is a certain correlation, it is crucial to remember that researchers have yet to find any meaningful causality. According to CBC News, Matthew Hill, an associate professor at the University of Calgary Hotchkiss Brain Institute emphasizes that we shouldn’t fall into the stereotypes about pot; instead, we should have faith in the studies being conducted which disprove them.

With all its potential side effects, the stigma around cannabis consumption still massively outweighs the real risks. We live in a world where the majority of the population is comfortable with people drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes (more or less). While people aren’t necessarily okay with others being addicted to opioids or pharmaceuticals, it’s definitely still a very common and accepted pain relief method. Yet some of the same people are still adamantly against the very thought of marijuana.

That being said, alcohol, cigarettes, and pharmaceuticals/opioids are distinctly worse for your health in every aspect and deadlier than marijuana could ever be. Unlike booze, pills or cigarettes, marijuana does not create a chemical dependency in the brain. While attitudes like psychosocial dependency can be developed, the detox period for this is significantly less painful and shorter than the detox period for chemical addiction, according to CBC News.

Another factor to keep in mind is that not a single person has ever died solely due to marijuana consumption, according to Greencamp, a website that researches cannabis use. Not a single one. Ever. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, smoking has killed 37,000 people in Canada this year alone, and opioids have taken 8,000 Canadian lives since 2016 according to CBC News. Marijuana is increasingly being seen as a viable alternative to prescription drugs with research being performed at facilities such as CanniMed and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse on the medical benefits of cannabis. This shows how invaluable it could be for the creation of effective and addiction-free treatments.

According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information, alcohol consumption also led to the hospitalization of nearly 77,000 Canadians in 2016. Yet pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, and alcohol are accepted aspects of society with no legislation aiming to ban them. Unfortunately, marijuana is consistently demonized, and will remain so for several years to come.

In his book Weed: A User’s Guide, columnist for the cannabis website Leafy and host of the Roll-Up podcast David Schmader explained that a person would need to smoke roughly 1,500 pounds of cannabis in an hour to fatally overdose. According to calculations by the peer-reviewed journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, that would come to about 1,943,965 joints. In one hour. Good luck with that.

At its core, legalization of marijuana takes the first step toward the de-stigmatization of its consumption. Regardless of the potential health benefits or the toxic and deadly products we deem more socially acceptable, marijuana use still has a negative connotation to it. However, with the progressive steps governments are taking to not only decriminalize cannabis, but make it more accessible, one can hope this stigma won’t remain a mainstream concept for much longer.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

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Opinions

Mental illness is as serious as physical illness

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

The stigma around mental illness needs to end, and the conversations need to start

Full disclosure: I suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). If I’m not medicated, it will take me 20 minutes or more just to get out of my apartment in the morning. I will check to make sure the back door is locked several times over. I will check repeatedly that the stove and oven are off, despite having eaten cold cereal for breakfast.

Then I need to verify that nothing near the heaters could start a fire, even in the summer when I know the heaters are off. Finally, and most importantly, if I cannot see the cat when I close the front door to leave, I assume that he has escaped and is lost somewhere outside. All the while, I keep my right hand on the pocket where my keys go to make sure I haven’t left them inside (and won’t be subsequently locked out).

I know a lot of people have morning routines, and they may even have similar rituals themselves. However, in my daily life, I must do these things. It’s not just a habit—it’s something that releases a pressure inside me and satisfies a seemingly physical need. Now, keep in mind, this is just my attempt to leave home. None of this says anything of the day-long struggle to keep everything and everyone doing what I need them to do in a way that appeases these compulsions. That is the most exhausting part.

This is my everyday experience if I am not medicated. It is a pain in the ass, but my symptoms are mild compared to many others who suffer from OCD. I take medication for these symptoms, and I am not ashamed of that because they tell my brain that many of these silly rituals are unnecessary. Therefore, medication gives me the option to focus on what’s really important, like going to school and doing reasonably well. So, am I crazy? Am I a lunatic not worthy of anything more than a life of seclusion and shame?

I’m not embarrassed about having OCD, nor should I be. Just as someone with a physical disability shouldn’t be embarrassed either. This is how we need to start thinking about mental illness. The stigma of “weakness” or “lunacy” are old and outdated, just as the terms “invalid” or “cripple” are. The time has come to talk about mental illness in a constructive manner. And so, I am putting myself out there to say that I am not crazy—my brain just works in a different capacity than others, and I will not apologize for that. I am not responsible for the position I have been put in, yet, I’m responsible for managing it.

So, why are some people scared to talk about mental illness? Perhaps it’s because they cannot see it. Or perhaps they simply fear the unknown. Well, I’ve got news for you: it is visible and we can see it all around us. Unfortunately, though, it will remain unknown until we talk about it.

You know some of those folks living on our city streets, right near Concordia’s downtown campus, talking to garbage bins and yelling at shadows? That’s mental illness. And until we educate ourselves, they will continue to be marginalized by society. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, nearly 40 per cent of the homeless population in Montreal suffer from various forms of severe mental illness. They are not evil, they are not crazy, nor are they possessed (by anything other than the socially-constructed prejudices of others). They are examples of what happens when people fear you or don’t understand you.

Perhaps I could be one of them. Luckily, I have a network of understanding people around me and access to healthcare that keeps me in school and possibly off the streets. This is not afforded to everyone, but it needs to be. You can help just by talking about it. I want to talk about this, and I want to talk about it now. My hope is that this will get things started.

If you or someone you know is suffering from a mental illness, please seek help. It is worth the effort. You can contact the Canadian Mental Health Association, Action on Mental Illness (AMI) Quebec or Mouvement Santé Mentale Québec for help or to get more information.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

Categories
Arts

Stigmas tackled on the silver screen

In Good Words, a film by a former Concordia student, a smooth interview suddenly goes awry when the question of mental health arises.

The Au Contraire Film Festival aims to change negative representations of mental illness through more than 20 works

In film, mental illness has often been used as a scapegoat, or as an excuse for a character to act a certain way. There is a predictable pattern that emerges—characters living with mental illness are often isolated, dangerous or unpredictable. They are dependent on caregivers. These characters find themselves being defined by their illnesses and are at the mercy of their symptoms. This is especially true in the horror genre, where many “evil” or “bad” characters are crazed, deranged, or on the run from the psychiatric hospital.

The Au Contraire Film Festival, a film festival focusing on the theme of mental illness, seeks to change this negative representation of mental illness by challenging the usual narratives surrounding mental illness. From Oct. 25 to 28, over 20 works by filmmakers around the world will be presented at the fourth edition of the festival, which will take place at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Each film defies the conventional understanding and representation of mental illness, and instead offers edgy alternatives. Each work destroys stigmas of mental illness by reclaiming what it means to either be living with mental illness or know someone who is.

Philip Silverberg, the festival’s founder, thinks there are a few gems worth noting in the program. “Our free Youth Awareness Matinée for senior high school students is always a much awaited event, and this year we are featuring an interactive assembly, using short films, to combat stigma,” said Silverberg. “We are also excited by a new program called Animated Minds that features short films that, in some manner, involve animation in the production.”

The festival will open with a monologue by internationally-renowned comedian Christophe Davidson. Drawing on his own experiences with mental illness for the first time on a public platform, Davidson will talk openly about his own struggles, while incorporating a comedic element.

Silverberg considers this comedy routine, followed by the screening of a Patient’s Rites, to be one of the most powerful parts of the festival’s programming. Patient’s Rites is a musical documentary, and tells the story of a patient who spent nearly two decades in a psychiatric hospital after descending into psychosis.

This year, the festival will also feature a short film by a former Concordia student. Robby Reis, a Montreal-based filmmaker and founder of the Montreal film production company Natali Film, graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in film production from Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Good Words, directed by Reis, is a short film that looks at what happens when the subject of mental health comes up in a job interview. The short film will be screened on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.

Since the festival’s inception, Silverberg has noticed a shift in how mental illness is portrayed. “At the local media level, there are increasingly more human interest stories that touch on the positive achievements of those who have mental illness. Although sensational headlines involving fanatic behaviour spike the stigma, on the whole there is a definite trend of acceptance,” Silverberg said.

The festival opens on Tuesday, Oct. 25 with Davidson’s monologue. Tickets for screenings are $10 and can be bought on the festival’s website. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremony days are also available online, although the prices differ.

Categories
Student Life

Scares, stigmas and STIs

VICTORIA — STIs, or sexually transmitted infections, have been a feared and stigmatized topic since biblical times. In contemporary times, we see a prominent stigma surrounding these infections. People are often labelled as “dirty” or “overly promiscuous” due to their affiliation with STIs. These people find themselves affected by a stigma that suggests all STIs are unmanageable problems that cause a person to be tainted for life. Though stigmas have been helped along by popular culture and old literature (for example, every Shakespeare comedy written), it is often taboos that prevent communication about STIs.
Jennifer Gibson, Island Sexual Health educator, teaches the importance of communication in curbing the spread of STIs as well as the stigmas behind them.
“In my experience as a sexual health educator, when sexually transmitted infections are being passed between partners, it often is because of the lack of communication that’s happened and it’s not [the intention] to harm someone; it’s that they haven’t been able to talk about it or they have no idea they actually have it,” says Gibson.
According to Gibson, the age-old preconceived notion that promiscuity is the recipe for disease isn’t necessarily true.
“People think that people who have multiple sexual partners have [an increased likelihood] of having a sexually transmitted infection than people who don’t. Theoretically, they have more opportunity for exposure, but they may not [actually] be getting exposed to sexually transmitted infections,” she explains.
One might say that the obvious way to avoid the spread of STIs is by frequent testing. Gibson recommends that people get checked at least once every three to six months or before every new partner depending on your frequency. However, getting checked isn’t always foolproof.
“Not all clinics offer the same standard testing. Often people go in for testing but they may not be told — or they may not ask — what they’ve been tested for. They then make assumptions that they’ve been tested for everything, when in fact it’s generally just those five that constitute a full STI screen [chlamydia, gonorrhea, hepatitis, syphilis and HIV].”
In some cases, according to Gibson, clinics might not even test for all of these; leaving syphilis out, for example. As uncommon as syphilis might be in comparison with say, chlamydia, lack of testing for the infection does reveal a basic flaw in the system.
Even the evolution of the naming of these infections, from “sexually transmitted diseases” to “sexually transmitted infections” as they are now called, shows a basic reason of why they are so widespread.
“We now refer to them as STIs because it refers to things that are asymptomatic,” says Gibson.
This means that just because everything seems in working order does not necessarily mean that they are. Many STIs can go undetected without testing. This does not mean the infections are untreatable, however.
“I think that’s where your stigma comes in. It’s that idea that they are these long-term major issues for people’s health, which they can be, but they also can be very manageable if people are given proper care and testing,” says Gibson.
Yet while something like chlamydia is easier to treat than a headache, the stigma persists. However, by getting checked often, asking questions and staying informed about your sexual health, as Gibson teaches, the spread of STIs and the stigma that goes along with them will begin to subside.
As Gibson puts it, “the more we [get checked] the less opportunity for stigma is there because really it shouldn’t be any different than taking care of any other part of your body.”

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