Having a mental illness brings a world of new perspectives, life experiences, and a change in reality forever. How does one survive the everyday, when it feels at every turn you are hit over the head by a new challenge facing mental illness stigma? It is never easy to deal with a mental health issue and it is equally as difficult to manage with the everyday annoyances, put downs, negative media reports, and a world that is just plain stigmatized.

Stigma is often something that we perceive as being out there in society, but, actually, it too is rampant, and a reality, in the lives of many families. When a family member is diagnosed with a mental illness, the fear often sets in and they panic wondering, “How am I going to tell my family?” One may assume that a family is assured to be empathetic, understanding and accepting, but this is not always the case.

As many walk by the people that inhabit the streets as a home, many of us consider that because someone is homeless that they must have a mental illness. I teach in the classrooms that this is not the case, but, ironically, it is the situation a lot of the time. As we are approached by people begging for change, wearing no pants, or screaming relentlessly in the streets, we are often correct in assuming that these individuals have significant mental health challenges.

People often ask me what is mental health stigma anyway? I make it simple. Stigma is the widespread perception about people who have a mental illness. Stigma says "those people" are scary, violent or crazy. It is these terms that shed a negative light on people with a mental illness simply because they have a disorder. It is outright discrimination, it is a lack of knowledge, and a clear indication that a great number of people who believe this are severely ignorant and misinformed. Self-stigmatization is that same thing, only the mental health stigma comes from within.

Greetings From The Bipolar Babe - Your Fellow Stigma Stomper Hello, my name is Andrea Paquette and I am known as the Bipolar Babe in the mental health community. My website is www.bipolarbabe.com and my mandate is to stomp out stigma. Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of twenty-six, I know what it means to face stigma internally and externally. It is my desire to share my personal experiences of living with bipolar and explore how I have dealt with stigma throughout my life for the past 11 years. I am genuine and honest, as if you were a close friend of mine. I promise to share all stories candidly, and I hope you will be my friend soon in this wonderful online community.

On Oct. 28, 2013, Justin Eldridge took his life. He left behind a wife and four children, and the never-ending question of "Why?" He had served more than eight years serving in the United States Marines, including an eight-month stint in Afghanistan. He was 31-years-old.

Do you ever feel as if you're not good enough? Do you ever wake up at night and think, If others really knew me... Do you ever walk around looking at others, knowing they are better/smarter/more beautiful than you? Yes.

In the past few weeks, three people with mental illness appeared in the media's pictures of violence, which is no surprise given that the media and mental illness have a long history together. Ultimately, the media defines what mental illness looks like in the public's mind. If one were to gauge by the past few weeks, it would seem that mental illness and violence go hand in hand. But does it?

It is with great sadness that I am announcing the end of my stint as the stigma blogger for Healthy Place. Over the past year and a half, I have gotten to meet a great deal of people involved in de-stigmatizing mental illness. I have had the privilege of engaging many of you in discussion surrounding mental health stigma and by the conversations we have created, I know we have made a difference in fighting stigma.

In this two-part series, I speak with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, about mental health stigma and the work he and others are doing, not only to combat stigma, but to bring research into brain disorders and illnesses to the forefront. Kennedy is a co-founder of One Mind for Research, a group dedicated to brain disorder research. In this interview, Kennedy speaks about mental health stigma; the role his uncle, President John F. Kennedy played in bringing about treatment to local communities, and the role of post-tramatic stress in the "astronomical" suicide rate of today's veterans.