Garry Trudeau Quotes

That's like making fun of a maniac because his brain isn't completely right, because he isn't in the norm.

Some people say I'm unique, that there aren't other people with schizophrenia like me. Well, there are people like me out there, but the stigma is so great that they don't come forward.

Most people, if you live in a big city, you see some form of schizophrenia every day, and it's always in the form of someone homeless. 'Look at that guy - he's crazy. He looks dangerous.' Well, he's on the streets because of mental illness. He probably had a job and a home.

We develop social systems for the handicapped, but when you're handicapped in your mind, society doesn't handle those situations well. I think we don't recognize or acknowledge the power of messages and how deeply affected we all are by the messages we receive from the media.

I was the most important person of the world, and people like the Pope would be just like enemies, who would try to put me down in some way or another, or the president. People are always selling the idea that people who have mental illness are suffering.

You are no less or more of a man or a woman or a human for having depression than you would be for having cancer or cardiovascular disease or a car accident.

It's easier to say people are crazy than to try to figure out why.

Mental illness, unfortunately, is an invisible disease: it's not seen or heard. For whatever reason, because of that, society has decided that if we can't see it, maybe it doesn't exist, so they want to just sweep it under the carpet or say, 'Snap out of it,' or that you're looking for attention.

Mathematicians don't like it when they're associated with mental illness and sort of bristle when you say that they can't get along socially, that they're not good with people.

Despite being commonplace, too many people with mental health problems still face stigma, prejudice and discrimination.

In fact, people with mental illness are more likely to be the victims of violence rather than anything else. So it's important that we not stereotype folks with mental illness.

If you say you've had a nervous breakdown or things aren't right mentally, people run away from you. They think you're from 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest,' you know.

The problem with the stigma around mental health is really about the stories that we tell ourselves as a society. What is normal? That's just a story that we tell ourselves.

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.

I want to tell people that I had post-natal depression because there is so much stigma around the subject and there shouldn't be.

There's a stigma on the word 'therapy.' People relate it to big problems. That's something we have to change. Going to therapy can be very healthy. It can change the way you see things and treat others.

The fact is, psychiatric help is not widely available to CIA agents - and as in the military, there is a stigma attached to admitting post-traumatic stress.

The funny thing about insane people is that it is kind of the opposite of being a celebrity. Nobody envies you.

When you've been locked up in a mental institution, people are going to ask questions. It was OK, because I didn't have to act perfect all the time.

I am repeatedly asked in interviews exactly 'what's wrong' with me, and I always give them the same answer; I don't identify the name of my condition in an interview unless it's relevant to the context of the story.

I want to break down some of the stigma associated with mental illness.

The only reason I've shared my story is to take that tiny baby step of breaking down the stigma attached to depression.

There are so many cliches associated with mental health - such as the 'fine line between lunacy and genius' - which are, on the whole, a load of rubbish.

We're becoming so much better at destigmatizing all sorts of things, including mental illness in 'Silver Linings.'

Abraham Lincoln suffered from depression and yet was a great president. Don’t you think that should help with the stigma of mental illness? We should tell everyone about that.