![]() ![]() I am not alone in experiencing this type of stigma. The result of that stigma is harmful on many levels, including exacerbating symptoms, creating barriers to success in relationships and vocation, and even impacting one’s identity and self-worth. This assumption leads to erroneous conclusions that 1) you are not working “hard enough” to push through symptoms, 2) you are making up symptoms as excuses to avoid responsibilities, or 3) your symptoms are your fault, either because of bad choices or because there is something inherently wrong with you. People tend to doubt the reality of things that they cannot see, so these symptoms or their severity are often called into question. On any given day, I may have physical joint pain that prevents me from sitting for long periods of time, or a depressive episode that exhausts me to the point where I cannot think straight. ![]() While one of these is a physical illness and the others are categorized as mental illnesses, one thing that they have in common is that they are invisible: no one would be able to tell what challenges I face unless I were to disclose them. What is not apparent is all the pain that I manage every day, having been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and chronic Lyme Disease. When I walk into a room, I appear to people as a healthy woman in my 20s. By Lydia Aimone, member of the Anti-Stigma Project ![]()
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