All articles tagged with #stigma
Michael Phillips, diagnosed with a micropenis at 0.9 cm, shares his experience on This Morning to break stigma around men's health, detailing how the condition affected his confidence, dating, and daily life, and urging awareness and access to medical support.
The piece argues that rising mental-health diagnoses cannot be attributed to overdiagnosis alone; while self-diagnosis and casual use of mental-health language on social media contribute, increased awareness and reduced stigma encourage help-seeking and may inflate apparent rates, while genuine risk factors—economic insecurity, crises, and the after-effects of the pandemic—likely also play a role; a nuanced view recognizing multiple simultaneous factors is needed, and individuals’ distress must be believed and taken seriously.
Fiji is experiencing a rapid HIV surge driven by unsafe needle practices, meth use, and stigma, with infections rising among youth and babies alike. Officials say about one baby per week is diagnosed with HIV from mother-to-child transmission and a child under five dies each month, though advances—ART, PrEP, expanded testing, mobile clinics, and safe houses—offer a path forward as the government and partners scale up the response.
A PsyPost report on three experiments with 748 adults shows a ~20-minute depression-reframing exercise—reading resilience stories and reflecting on personal strength—boosting self-efficacy and increasing two-week goal completion by about 49% versus a control. The approach also reduces perceived mismatch between illness and success, hinting at greater resilience, but relies on self-reported data and short follow-up and should complement, not replace, traditional treatments.
On World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, WHO warns that discrimination and untreated mental health conditions affect over a billion people with NTDs, and launches a global guide to integrate mental health care and stigma reduction into NTD programs. The release notes progress—1.4 billion people in need of interventions and 58 countries eliminating at least one NTD—yet warns that declining funding jeopardizes gains and urges renewed action to reach the 2030 targets.
Masking menopause symptoms at work, driven by stigma, can be draining and heighten burnout risk, potentially affecting performance and career progression. The BBC piece cites UK figures of about four million women aged 45–55 in the workforce and estimates that roughly one in ten have left a job due to menopause, highlighting widespread under-information and stigma. It calls for better workplace support, manager training, clearer absence disclosures, and a more open culture, while contrasting negative views with positive cultural shifts and strategies like HRT and the idea of “post‑menopausal zest.”
WHO renews its commitment to a leprosy-free world ahead of World Leprosy Day, highlighting free multidrug therapy and post-exposure prophylaxis, a 25-year partnership with novartis, and ongoing anti-stigma efforts, while noting 172,717 new cases in 2024 across 188 reporting areas.
Trinidad-born doctors Dr. Robert Jupiter and Dr. Karen Moses return to Trinidad and Tobago to launch Stellar Medical, a stigma-free clinic focused on obesity and metabolic health. They emphasize treating obesity as a chronic, biology-driven disease, discuss GLP-1/GIP meds like Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro, but prioritize nutrition, movement, hydration, sleep, and mental wellbeing, and will collaborate with therapists when needed.
The article discusses the impact of addiction on families, highlighting the story of the Reiner family and the broader issue of stigma surrounding addiction in the US. It emphasizes that addiction is a widespread disease affecting many, regardless of socioeconomic status, and that violent acts by individuals with addiction are rare. Parents of addicted children often live in fear and loneliness, but recovery is possible with support and perseverance.
Gout, a painful joint condition often linked to lifestyle factors, is becoming more common, but stigma around it can prevent sufferers from seeking treatment, as illustrated by a personal story of recurring severe foot pain.
Demi Lovato discusses the importance of being open about her struggles with eating disorders and substance abuse, feeling a responsibility to serve as a role model and break stigma, despite the challenges of public scrutiny. She emphasizes her decision to be transparent to help others and shares her journey of recovery and growth, with a new album upcoming.
A study analyzing Reddit posts found that individuals who self-diagnose ADHD tend to have a more negative self-image and seek validation more often than those with clinically diagnosed ADHD, highlighting the influence of online communities on perceptions of the condition and the importance of accurate information and professional support.
The Trump administration suggested a link between acetaminophen and autism, which experts and advocates criticize for spreading misinformation, increasing stigma, and potentially harming autistic individuals by undermining support systems and promoting guilt among parents. Advocate Colin Killick emphasizes that autism is genetic and inborn, condemning the administration's portrayal of autism as a 'plague' and its goal to eliminate it, which could lead to increased discrimination and misunderstanding.
Rising rates of colorectal cancer among people under 50 are not widely discussed due to cultural shame and embarrassment, leading to a lack of awareness, funding, and research on the disease.
The U.S. is reverting to the term 'monkeypox' after previously adopting 'mpox' in 2022 to reduce stigma and address animal transmission misconceptions, but experts question this reversal as it may cause confusion and appears politically motivated.