The scarlet “A” was meant to shame Hester Prynne, stigmatizing her to the community as an unworthy individual. Today, the letter is often replaced by words. A new study suggests that physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants often use stigmatizing words in describing their patients. But as you will read, many of their “findings” depend upon whether you believe those words are, in fact, stigmatizing at all.
stigma
In Hollywood, where having a therapist is chic, mental health disorders are a reality. But often times they don't get the frank-talk focus that they deserve. So any celebrity who opens up to the media about their issues to de-stigmatize them -- like Lady Gaga and Demi Lovato -- is A-OK in our book.