May 11, 2019 - Jason Finucan and Stigma Zero

May 11, 2019 - Jason Finucan and Stigma Zero

Jason Finucan joined Ted to talk about his new book Jason: 1 | Stigma: 0.

Part memoir and part how-to, this engrossing book is the culmination of a lifetime of unique personal experiences with illness by author, Jason Finucan.

As someone who has experienced both a major physical illness (heart defect leading to open heart surgery in 1988) and a major mental illness (bipolar disorder leading to hospitalization in 2005), Jason realized that the stigma still surrounding mental illness was unnecessarily making his diagnosis of bipolar disorder far worse than it needed to be. And this problem was happening everywhere.

Despite significant gains in awareness in recent years, mental illnesses like clinical depression or anxiety disorder are still treated far differently than physical illnesses, like cancer. As a result of the confusion, isolation and lack of support created by stigma, there is an increase in the number of people suffering with untreated mental illnesses or, tragically, dying by suicide.

In this book, Jason shares his alarmingly candid personal experiences with an engaging storytelling style and offers insight on how we perceive illness in our society today, the important role of empathy, and what we can all do to effect change. His goal is for everyone to understand this important topic so they are empowered to make a real change and ultimately join his vision for future without stigma.

This is a mental health movement – and Jason wants you to be a part of it.

 www.stigmazero.com