The last chapter was about the results of societal stigma on me in particular, both inside and outside the mental health profession. But I have yet to discuss the stigma that anyone can verify exists, not merely the one who is a victim of it.

In the 1990s, people became much more sensitive to what has become known as "political correctness". Anything that smacked of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, sexual harassment, or homophobia was immediately denounced by all. If a movie was racially insensitive, the director was seen on TV trying to explain him- or herself. Questions appeared on university class evaluation forms such as, "How well did the professor treat issues relating to women and minorities?" Office workers were given classes on what constitutes sexual harassment, and were treated with utmost strictness for the slightest infraction. College campuses, in the opinion of some, restricted academic freedom when it came to intellectual works relating to race and gender.

I am not saying that all this was bad; certainly all these groups were oppressed in the past and continue to be discriminated against; certainly they were deserving of respect and protection under the law. But there is one group I know of that was left out by all this political correctness: the mentally ill. Though they too were a minority that has been terribly abused and oppressed throughout history, though they too are still discriminated against, there was no cultural shunning of slurs such as "psycho", "schizo", "crazies", "maniac", and "lunatic". Like the word "nigger", these words have been historically used to dehumanize us; but while you don’t hear nigger jokes on late night television, you will hear jokes about "crazies" and "schizos". Turn on the show World’s Wildest Police Videos, and you will hear the announcer describe criminals as "crazed killers", "homicidal madmen", and "demented criminals". Most people do not realize how exclusive and dehumanizing this language is; my stepsister, who knows I’m schizophrenic, recently used the words "psycho baby" in casual conversation with me, to describe some sort of monster often seen in movies. I didn’t say anything about it. Probably fifty years ago many blacks, though offended, would not have made trouble had a white man used the word "nigger" in conversing with them, but describing monsters as "psychos" is just as hurtful to the man who is psychotic.

I could fill page after page listing examples of Hollywood’s fascination with the "psychotic killer"; but I think the reader can simply think of one or two off the top of his or her head. No one seemed to have a problem with this in the political correctness of the 1990s. Recently, mental health advocacy groups, especially the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, are taking on a more active role in trying to change the culture of exclusion. Hopefully, our day will come in the present century; it hasn’t come yet.