- A starting point in managing emotions is to normalise and recognise emotions as part of our mind and body system. It is normal to feel and express emotions. Emotions affirm our humanity and can often be resourceful as they provide us with useful feedback that propel us into action or even change.
- Some emotions are challenging to process, because they demand a lot from the mind-body system, for example anger, sadness and anxiety. This does not mean that we need to deny or avoid these emotions, we also need to recognise them as part of mind-body system.
- What we need to be mindful of is the extremes in how emotions are experienced and expressed and how these extremes affect our mental health and our actions. We then need to learn to manage these emotions. We discuss this more next time on the blog.
Stigma is when we blame, judge, prejudice and discriminate people because of characteristics that they have or situations that they are going through. People are often stigmatised for situations that they already find challenging to deal with and sometimes it is situations they cannot change or have temporarily lost control over (i.e. mental health diagnosis like depression, diagnosis of HIV and people living with disabilities). So when we stigmatise people we place an extra burden on their already difficult journey. The following points highlight the impact of stigma on people. 1. Impact on mental health Stigma results in feelings of isolation, rejection and guilt for people and it can contribute to the development or worsening of mental health challenges like depression and anxiety. 2. Obstacle in help-seeking When we stigmatise people, it becomes more challenging for them to openly seek help because they fear judgement. As a result they either do not seek help at all or i...
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