This book by Graham Thornicroft discusses the following:

 “People with mental illness commonly describe the stigma and discrimination they face as being worse than their main condition. Discrimination can pervade every part of their daily life – their personal life, working life, sense of citizenship, their ability to maintain even a basic standard of living. Discrimination can manifest itself in subtle ways, such as the terminology used to describe the person or their illness, or in more obvious ways – by the way the mentally ill might be treated and deprived of basic human rights.”

By reading the above, I can – in a way I hadn’t before – better describe what happened to me. At one time I did indeed feel that I wasn’t treated as a human being. The review above says that for people like me “the stigma and discrimination they face [is] worse than their main condition.” That was certainly true for me. I suffered emotionally for at least three years, only now starting to feel I’ve recovered.

I’m sorry to be rehashing this all again, but it was a tragedy. One good thing: I have, I believe, pretty well recovered and now find that I have a wealth of understanding about what it feels to be stigmatized.  I gained knowledge I could not have gained in any other way. And I pray that God will help me use it to educate others and to make a difference.