by Megan Kennedy The mental health community is buzzing with talk about stigma. As a social work student, my mental health classrooms were filled with dialogue about the ongoing consequences of shaming individuals with mental health problems. As a professional, the effects of stigma are often detailed in the stories and everyday lives of my clients, and as an individual with a lengthy history of anxiety, I have personally felt the effects of stigma and witnessed stigma through others close to me. Considering roughly 18.6% of adults and 13.1% of children (ages 8-15) suffer from diagnosable mental health problems, chances are you have too. Most of us agree that stigma is harmful, but where does it come from and what can we do about it?
John Gottman, marital therapist and researcher, identified four patterns of communication that are most disruptive in intimate relationships, so disruptive in fact, that they are predictors of divorce in married couples. I've found that describing these patterns to couples in counseling has been helpful in resolving communication problems. Gottman wrote about them in his book called The Marriage Clinic, calling them the "Four Horseman of the Apocalypse." (I'm on the fence about that name, but it is kind of amusing and easy to remember.) Here's a summary:
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AuthorKambria Kennedy-Dominguez, LPC-S |