Stop Comparing Yourself to Others to Stop Mental Health Stigma
Stop comparing yourself to others, because when you do, you are letting mental health stigma affect your self-esteem. The only person who it is fair to compare yourself to is you. Are you doing better today than you were yesterday? Have you improved in different ways from a year ago? Mental health stigma can make us compare ourselves to others who don't have a mental illness or peers who haven't been through the same things that we have (How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others).
Keep a Journal to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
It is much healthier to keep a self-esteem journal where a person with mental health issues can keep track of progress and not let mental health stigma ruin their self-esteem.
Write down each day your level of mood from one to 10 and have an honest talk with yourself in writing about where you are in your life. Journal writing can be an invaluable tool to go back to later. It will be something you can use to guide you towards further growth.
Comparing yourself to others will give you false information because no one can know what others are going through and the stigma that surrounds mental illness could make you feel such negative emotions as guilt, shame and fear about who you are when, in fact, you are already who you need to be.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Stop Mental Health Stigma and Accept Uniqueness
Everyone is unique and has his or her talents and abilities.
Often I find that I have been beating myself up because of things said or done that would cause others to stigmatize me as a person. I felt humiliated because of having poor mental health.
When I think of these times, my thoughts go back to talking with a friend I had who had a rare disease that would one day cause him to need to have his hands amputated. I wondered how he had the strength to stay positive and overcome this problem, and he told me that it didn't worry him. He believed his artistic side would come out after this happened and that it would make up for his loss. Fortunately, he had been misdiagnosed and never did have to lose his hands. This friend taught me that all anyone can do is take the positive and the negative things life gives us and do our best with what we have.
Everyone, especially those with mental health problems, is a human being despite any illness. Some people feel the sting of society's mental health stigma trying to tell them that they can't do things, or imply their life isn't worth as much as others who aren't mentally ill. When this happens, you need to remember that with persistence, people can still do a lot of amazing things for themselves and others. These things could be everything from writing a poem to holding down a regular job.
Remind yourself that, over time, you will adapt to be able to maximize your abilities to work, function, and form healthy relationships. If you are having a hard time and can only do a few small positive things each day while it seems others have no troubles at all, stand up to stigma and just do the best you can without comparing yourself to others who aren't going through what you are.
Mental health stigma is real and powerful, but each of us can overcome stigma and unfair comparisons. Just try to make each day a little better than the last and soon your self-esteem and sense of self-worth will improve, and you will be able to do so much more.
APA Reference
Gregersen, L.
(2017, March 12). Stop Comparing Yourself to Others to Stop Mental Health Stigma, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, December 21 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/survivingmentalhealthstigma/2017/03/stop-stigma-dont-compare-yourself-to-others
Author: Leif Gregersen
An excellent read, and reminder. So important for those with mental illness but also so important for everyone in general. Comparison is truly such a thief of joy and it can be incredibly sly. This is such a great reminder to stop and take a stock of this behavior. I enjoy the idea of a journal for this specific writing.
thanks for your comment. I have always known a journal can be a powerful thing. My mother kept one for years on the advice of her Doctor and was able to track her moods and her personal progress in the struggle we call mental illness.
The rising of stopping to compare oneself to others indicates important issue to mentally ill patients, because the are generally overloaded with social sting as weak and undervalued subject of their innate life surroundings. Your mindful observations of negative impact of this inherent habit to compare oneself with others has got numerous bad implications on healthy psychological development and definitive maturation of any person. But the consequences of this vice interpersonal relation stir up many irreparable outcomes for persons with mental disorders. As it is known, current psychiatric treatment of mentally ill persons require longstanding and persistent workout, where process of recovering takes the main place and role. This temptation is in concordance with up to date intention of psychiatric treatment and management of persons with mental difficulties. It should to denote that appropriate psychiatric treatment underline the functional rehabilitation and resocialization of respective psychiatric patient. In this complicate undertaking the avoidance of comparing yourself with others indicates great positive contribute to achieve satisfying recover of any person with mental problems. Furthermore, the steady process of psychiatric treatment includes the active participation of mentally ill person on daily social activities as prerequisite of comprehensive and complete psychiatric treatment of them. Let's help person with mental disorders to join us in social life with theirs mental disorders, without any prejudices and refusal. Against common social attitudes, psychiatric patients deserve any place and respect of community, because the have got any occupational and interpersonal abilities. Finally. nobody isn't perfect and omnipotent in this world.
I constantly find that I knock myself down on a daily basis mentally and physically which is draining. I do make comparisons and my results are that a lot of the times I feel worthless. I suffer from PTSD and a host of other symptoms. I kept a journal but it depressed me, so I stopped. Mental illness is a nasty thing, people only see you on the outside, but not inside your head. They then judge you on your out going appearance but, do not see your mental anguish.
Really a great blog, I really like it. Comparison is that one thing that can make you mentally ill and make you struggle and that time not even the doctors can be helpful. SO we should stop comparing our self to others. Thanks for sharing such a nice blog.