"How to Cope with Stigma
• Get educated. Whether you’re struggling emotionally or you know someone who is, get educated about mental health conditions. And share what you’ve learned with friends. Knowledge is one of the best ways to combat stigma.
• Accept and seek help. Remember that emotional health conditions are treatable, so there’s no need to struggle in silence. In fact, untreated mental illness can often have harmful consequences. So it’s crucial to seek help from a counselor. Plus, therapy can give you a safe place to discuss your concerns about stigma or how people will view you.
• Realize that you aren’t your condition. Illness doesn’t define us. Just like someone with cancer is still the same person before the diagnosis, so is someone with a mental health condition. Avoid using terms like calling someone (or yourself) anorexic, bulimic, bipolar or schizophrenic. Instead, it is more accurate to say that an individual is suffering from anorexia, bulimia, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia."