Myth: reframing mental illness as a 'brain disease' reduces stigma.

People living with mental illness often describe the associated stigma as being more debilitating than the illness itself. 1, 2 Stigma involves the labelling and stereotyping of persons living with mental illness as being “different” or having “undesirable” characteristics. Those who experience stigma face discrimination as well as a loss of status and power to change their situation.3 Stigma in mental health has a long and storied past, and we don’t have to look too far back in Canada’s history to find a time when a diagnosis of mental illness meant being sent away and locked up for life.4 Removing people from the community in this way contributed greatly to stigma, as the public came to associate all mental illness with its most extreme forms,5, 6 labelling the diagnosed as crazy, mad, or lunatics. Unfortunately, this stigma remains a problem to this day.