Ocean Avenue Elementary School Middletown Erika S. 5th Grade

Ocean Avenue Elementary School Middletown

Erika S. 5th Grade

There is so much hate against other people. Somebody will always find a way to hate on someone. This is why it would be amazing for Monmouth County to be stigma-free! People wouldn't have to worry about other people commenting on what they look like or do! People could be themselves. People wouldn't be scared to show their true self! And yet there are so many types of stigma that we all want to be free from such as, self-stigma, public stigma, professional stigma, and institutional stigma. It isn't even only people talking about something someone did ¨wrong¨. People express how they feel about other people whether it's with the movement on their face such as, the looks they give to others, or their mouth movements or scrunching up their nose. People even use their hands or legs to stigmatize others. Although some people don't know that stigmatizing others could and is affecting others mental health. It affects the people that stigmatize those others too. The people who stigmatize others think they can gain power by stigmatizing more and more people until they find peace in stigmatizing others where it gets out of control. Not only the county but the world's stigmatization is like a chain that gets bigger and bigger as the world continues because people think it's cool or they take all of their problems out on others so they feel better about themselves. Even if right now one person stops stigmatizing others, it could cause different chains to decrease the amount of people stigmatizing others. Harmful effects of stigma are reducing hope, lower self esteem, more difficulties at work, the belief youll never succeed at certain challenges, reluctance to seek help or treatment, social isolaton, lack of understanding by family/friends, bullying, suicide, homicides, and violince. To help prevent so much stigma, you could go see a therapist to help talk about what is on your mind so someone can help you. If more people went to therapy or someone to talk to, we could save so many other people from feeling stigma. This is why and what Monmouth County would be like if it was stigma-free