Stigma versus Stigmatization
The word stigmatization has twice as many syllables and more than twice as many letters as stigma. In addition, using stigmatization leads to relatively more complicated phrases such as the stigmatization of people with depression (versus the stigma of depression). And stigma is far more commonly used by advocacy groups, researchers, and the media. So why have we at the RTC made the decision in our own writing to use the longer word with the more complicated constructions?
Our current thinking about this issue began with an angry email we received a few years ago. The writer was firmly opposed to the use of stigma in connection with mental health conditions, though he was not very specific about why or about what an acceptable alternative would be. My own first reaction was essentially to ignore his comments—why make a change on the basis of one complaint? There did not seem to be any broad-based movement objecting to the use of stigma and promoting an alternative.
As a writer and editor, however, it seemed that the least I could do was to check its definition. The dictionary says that stigma is a stain, mark, or brand of shame. With this definition in mind, it became easier to see why someone might object to a phrase like the stigma of depression. The phrase could be interpreted as saying that depression is a mark of shame. Even though this is clearly not what many people mean when they use stigma, the RTC eventually decided that our own policy would be to avoid the word. Instead, we use stigmatization, which is the act of casting shame onto others. We feel that this difference, though perhaps subtle, is an important one, and that using stigmatization is more consistent with our Center’s mission and values.
Putting together the most recent issue of Focal Point raised the question for us once more, since most of the articles submitted for this issue used stigma. Ultimately, we decided not to ask our contributors to change their wording, and we were left wondering whether the distinction we were trying to make was meaningful to anyone besides ourselves.
Questions for Discussion:
- Do you think it is important to make a distinction between the terms stigma and stigmatization?
- Do you prefer the term stigma, stigmatization, or something else entirely?
- How do you think this issue of which word to use should be resolved?
Your thoughts…
Comments:
 It hurts, i know how it feels. But what i have learned if u want others to like you treat everyone with respect. Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by livia at 02:17 PM
People are always reluctant to change what they're doing, particularly since making a change often means that whatever they did before--sometimes for years and years and years--was not so great. So of course there will be resistance, but I am completely supportive of making this kind of change and I believe it is absolutely essential. Posted Friday, April 24, 2009 at 07:36 PM
I think this distinction is very important. I also think that changing language is like moving a mountain with a spoon, although we have had great success in some areas such as "people first language" (i.e., moving from "Seriously Emotionally Disturbed or SED youth" to Youth with serious emotional disorders, or youth who have mental health challenges, or other "people first" constructions. It has taken 25 years, however, and much persistent, sometimes tiresome, effort. Posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 04:04 PM
OK, I guess I get the point, but if people don't know that when they use "stigma" it means "stain" does it really matter what it's linguistic roots are? I could maybe see thinking about changing over if more people cared... Posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 01:11 PM
It's actually hard for me to believe, but I had never thought about this issue in this way before. And this surprises me because normally it seems that people are highly sensitive to this kind of language issue. I totally support the change and think it should have bben made long beofre this. Posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 11:32 AM
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