Stigma on jochum.dev

From the Least to Nobody — On the Invisible Damage of Pigeonholing

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We sort people. Daily, unconsciously, in fractions of a second. Homeless. Unemployed. Addicted. Failed. The drawer opens, the person goes in, the drawer closes. What’s inside, we no longer see — we only see the label.

What the Drawer Does to the Person

Whoever is classified first loses their name. Not the one on their ID — the inner one. The name that says: I am someone. I have a story. I have contributed something.

Families Talk — About Everything

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“My doctor says I have the most extreme version of psychiatric diagnoses.”

That’s how I put it. Bipolar Type 1, with psychoses. I say it at the bar, over coffee, on a walk. Openly. Directly. For years.

What happens next is almost always the same: people start talking. “My brother has that too.” “My aunt was in the clinic for years.” “In our family, no one talks about that.” Sometimes they want to unload. Sometimes they want to understand. Often both.