Dear Editor,
According to the article "Despite better understanding of mental illness's causes, stigma continues to linger" that appeared in the Daily on Oct. 1, "Often, the more severe a mental health problem is, the less willing the victim is to talk about it openly due to one simple factor: ‘stigma.'"
It pleasures us to associate "stigmas." Why? Instead of addressing the prejudice in us, we find a flaw in a "them." Men, in many cultures, did it with rape, Nazism did it with a great many people and today we find pleasure in claiming it for mental illnesses. We do not find flaws in the people who claim it, only in the people against whom they claim it.
Taking a lesson from history, I find the flaw in the people who claim it. And the people who wittingly or not accept and promote or pass it along.
As I read this article, I felt that Tufts wants to tell me there is a "stigma" to mental illnesses. It wants to facilitate someone sending that message to students. It is an offensive assertion.
Your direction ought be to do as the women's movement did and refute the association, not endorse it. Educate, not prejudice. The psychology of the assertion is well known — it is not one to endorse. Please put an end to this assertion.
Sincerely,
Harold A. Maio
Former editor of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, sponsored by Boston University
