I have a confession to make — I cringe every time I hear the word, “crazy”. My confidence plummets to the soles of my shoes. A wave of shame overtakes me. I am whisked back in time to the behavioral health unit: Danei Edelen. As you walk off the psych ward, you think, “I guess I am one of the crazies now”. As a woman, I felt neutered. Who could love somebody like me? I psychologically wore a mantle of shame everywhere, apologizing for taking up space and breathing air.” The power of stigma As Terri Cheney writes in Modern Madness: An Owner’s Manual, stigma can be deadly. “Self-doubt is poisonous – but when it spirals down into self-stigma, it can be deadly. Whole organizations are devoted to fighting stigma, but its very hard to fight our own selves…. When people question my bipolar disorder, they trample my reality. Even when I know they’re wrong, it sets off a chain reaction of confusion in me. My self-confidence begins to crumble as I question my own veracity and my hard-earned belief in my illness.”