Stigma (a poem for World Mental Health Day)

Why do you always stop and stare?
Is it because I’m ‘not all there’?
Do you think I’m a freak?
Or a nut?
Or a loon?
That I’ll howl like a wolf when it’s next a full moon?

You try to avoid me.
You think that I’m dangerous.
Do you think that the illness I have is contagious?

When you see me approach you cross over the street.
And as I pass by you, you study your feet…
Scared that to look me
Right in the eye,
Will lead to your end,
And that slowly you’ll die;
Riddled with illness
And strangeness
And pain.

But believe me,
My illness is the cause of less pain
Than your response to my illness
Again,
And again.

Poor mental health is a killer,
It’s true.
But some of it’s down to your actions.
Yes.
You.

Don’t look away,
And don’t stop and stare.
Instead treat me normally,
Please.
If you dare.

I’m really just like you,
In need of a friend.
Stop staring,
Start listening
And help my pain end.