Fighting The Silence of Stigmas
I respect anonymity & that it may be necessary for some people, and that’s their right to decide.
However.
I decided years ago to see addiction like any other disease — say, cancer.
We do not shame people for having cancer.
We do not shame patients for getting treatment.
We celebrate the small victories, the recovery, the years of remission.
At least one person that I love very much has (had?) both cancer and addiction, and I have never felt ashamed of them or those diseases.
In fact, few things have made me more proud than seeing someone face them & fight with all they have to get better. (And I try to support them through that, however I can.)
Each year of sobriety and each day of remission is an amazing gift and achievement — and they wouldn’t be possible without support groups, medical professionals, research, and treatments.
We owe their life, over and over and over again, to getting help.
The more we speak up, the more we break down a stigma that is killing us in its silence.
This morning, I got a Google news alert that I was quoted in a piece about going to therapy:
“As a long-term traveler (on the road since June 2014) and remote worker, my therapist is a really key part of maintaining my self-care,” writer Katherine Conaway told INSIDER.
“She’s an objective audience to my concerns, daily challenges, and relationship difficulties (romantic, family, and otherwise), as well as the more philosophical questions I think about as a millennial finding my place in the world.”
I speak up in the hope that it helps other people feel more comfortable getting help with a problem or talking to someone who is trained in supporting them.
I want to help contribute to our society breaking down these stigmas & save people’s lives instead.
So I’ve written here on Medium about how I use Talkspace therapy, and I try to mention it in conversations when people are talking about therapy, having a hard time, or being curious about one of the apps:
Life is hard.
We aren’t born knowing how to manage everything that happens or everyone we interact with.
There is no shame in asking for and receiving help.
There should be no stigma against admitting gaps of knowledge or the need for support.
Treatment & therapy don’t mean that you are weak or lazy or broken.
It means you are strong and brave and wise enough to understand your current limits, and that you want to make yourself and your life better.
I’ve said it before & I will say it again:
We go to doctors for our bodies, accountants for our bank accounts, and lawyers for our businesses — why wouldn’t we consult a therapist for our minds and our relationships?
So here I am, again, reminding whoever might be reading this today:
It is okay to get help.
It is good to talk about your problems, especially to someone who is trained to be a productive mentor and objective listener.
It is not your fault if you have a disease, and you deserve treatment and support.
And if you really need help right now, here is a list of free resources:
Katherine works remotely while she travels the world — on the road since June 2014.
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