Meeting focuses on being "stigma free"

Oct. 29--"Being Stigma Free" was the focus of a town hall meeting Tuesday night at the EMEPA auditorium in Meridian.

The seminar was sponsored by the Meridian affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the country's largest grassroots mental health organization.

Dr. Rachel Hull, a pediatrician with North Hills Family Medical Clinic, and Dr. Lin Hogan of Weems Community Mental Health Center were the panelists.

"Ignorance and fear still surround mental illness," NAMI director Patricia Battle said. "It's very common, and it affects individuals and families. All of us have been affected by mental illness in some way."

Hogan, who works with clients with substance abuse disorders, noted the mental health field is trying to get away from terms such as "addict" and "alcoholic" because of the demoralizing theme associated with them.

"Mental health affects physical health and vice-versa," Hull said. "And when you talk about stigma, a lot of people think that if they seek help for depression, people will think they're crazy."

"But waiting because you don't want people to think you're crazy can lead to problems like an increased risk of heart disease and cancer," she said.

"Your physical health can also affect your mental health," she said. "If you don't have the proper things in your diet, that can lead you to being depressed."

Larry and Debbie Waller of Scooba were two of the seminar's attendees. Their son has a mental illness and, according to Debbie Waller, connecting with others at such meetings helps.

"It brings about change, because people are so reluctant to talk about mental health," she said. "It affects individuals; it affects families, and it affects our community."

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