Situación profesional de evaluación número 3

Anticipated stigma regarding mental health was reported across all of the age groups (N=9). Often when participants anticipated stigma, they would add the “that’s not me” caveat of deflection. This strategy was employed by 22-year-old Teddy, who was quick to point out during

his interview with me that despite his being diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 16, “I've always been pretty normal. I hope you can tell?”

“That’s not me” is also part of the anticipation scenario that Dwayne J presents. Here it is important to remember that “dual diagnosis” can mean mental health issues and developmental and cognitive issues. Dwayne J, who is also 22, refused to go to a different school because he did not want anyone to think he had trouble learning:

I was evaluated. Because when I was, I was staying on like (redacted) Road, but they started making me go to a school all the way—I started going to Kimberly Elementary. I think that's somewhere on the west side. I don't know. I was evaluated. But, you know, it was a little short bus I used be like nah… Yeah. Because I ain't—you know, when you're a kid--well, when I was little. The short bus, I used to say that was for the mentally challenged kids.

Mental illness and developmental issues were also conflated by Constantine, who included a cousin with Downs Syndrome in the category of mentally ill members of his family. He stated he would not want anyone “Thinking I’m crazy or something.”

Chris Smalls does not like to be around people with mental illness. He was in group therapy at the hospital or “mental institutions,” as he refers to them. However, in jail he does not attend any sort of group activity. “When I was in a mental institution, I was going to group. Here, I don't go to the group in here because I don't want to be around it. I stay in my lane…because it makes you more mental.”

Although he has not been diagnosed with a mental illness, 40-year-old Cee Pressure is worried about his son’s diagnosis of ADHD. He, too, is quick to rule out other cognitive issues:

And I have a 13-year-old son. He's kind of mentally challenged. I'm not saying— [inferred intellectual disability] he’s got ADHD, attention deficit disorder…He kept getting in trouble at school, and I had to take him to a psychiatrist and a therapist, and they diagnosed him with that.

Kim K expects to experience stigma due to her mental health issues. She is a pharmacy assistant and has this to say about job applications:

Yes, I know when I apply for jobs at Emory or different hospitals like Grady, all the hospitals, they ask, “Do you have a behavior disorder or if you have lupus or if you’re a schizophrenic or schizo-effective that you can check the box.” I already know that you probably won’t get the job. Or if you have cancer, that you may not get the job if you check one of the boxes off on the application.

Like 22 year-old-Teddy, 45-year-old Five-Percent anticipated being stigmatized, and so was quick. He described his current troubles as drug-related and using ice cream as an analogy. He clarified his position for me this way, assuming I was wondering how he was in this position at all (that’s not me):

Now, you're probably saying, "I'm listening to this guy and you know, you just don't fit the person that"—eats a lot of ice cream to get themselves fat," get yourself in trouble. "Why did you eat so much ice cream?" Well, it's addictive.

Draco was among the participants who directly connected that anticipatory stigma stopped him from getting help. He was one of those people who are considering reaching out for mental health intervention but will only do so if they can be sure it will not be placed on their permanent record.

No, I have not been fully diagnosed. I am in the process of trying to get a dual diagnosis. I would like to receive some mental assessments, again, because I do believe I have PTSD. Ah, I toss and turn all night long and very much I’m sleeping [?]. I’ve been told I talk in my sleep… Ah, in fact, I’m kind of worried about having that kind of diagnosis on my permanent record. I’d rather go through, um, a service on the outside so that I don’t have any kind of stigma associated with mental illness.

Draco is absolutely convinced that he will lose friends if he discloses to them that he has a diagnosed mental illness. He characterizes himself as being “very private.” He goes on to elaborate (my mental illness is not who I am):

I don’t want to have a formal diagnosis because there’s a difference… Oh,

absolutely. If it ever came out that there’s that history, man, first off in my family, and it’s like I exhibit some of the signs? Oh noooo.

I asked Draco how he thought it would impact his life? His response:

“Employment and social situations. If it got to any friends or anything like that, I would probably not have those friends for long.” He related feeling the same way about being gay and HIV positive.

Michael Wright shares Draco’s assessment that having any mention of mental illness on his permanent record is untenable: “Yeah. I didn't want it to be in my medical profile that I have mental health issues…because people, they view you different. They view you different when they feel like you've got mental health issues, you know what I mean?”

David’s fear of his mother’s misunderstanding and thinking that he was “a lunatic” is also indicative of anticipated stigma from family members.