Fighting mental health stigma is not pretty. It can be awkward and weird. Just looking up the definition is confusing. If you scroll through the whole definition of stigma on Merriam Webster, you see various ways the word stigma can be used.
You see references ranging from a “mark of shame” and diseased body parts to the makeup of flowers and religious ecstasy. Or when used in an old-fashion way, stigma is just a straight-up scar left from a branding, as in sticking a piece of metal into a hot fire and then pressing it into skin you want to brand.
Like they do to, you know, livestock or Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” So, what the hell? Why do most of these definitions point toward something burdensome, heavy or painful?
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