End Stigma

Everyone plays a role in ending stigma in our society

Stigma -- a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person -- can be one of the primary barriers to seeking treatment and support for mental health issues, substance use disorder and other health issues. At Indiana University, we are committed to addressing this issue through the U Bring Change to Mind initiative, a student-led program created by Bernice Pescosolido, a professor at Indiana University, and acclaimed actress and mental health advocate Glenn Close.

Shame, isolation and fear should never prevent someone from seeking the help and support they need. "A Conversation With ..." campaign brings together famous IU visitors, students, faculty and staff, who are sharing their own personal stories in an effort to put an end to stigma.

Actor Jesse Eisenberg discusses his personal experience with anxiety and how volunteering and sharing his story has helped him battle it.

Description of the video:

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[Music fades in, A CONVERSATION WITH, IU LOGOs, JESSE EISENBERG and a Jesse Eisenberg avatar appear, 3 cream and 2 crimson lines scroll vertically through screen then goes white]

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[Jesse's avatar, JESSE EISENBERG, a film clapper board and pencil appear on screen]
Hi i'm Jesse Eisenberg. I'm an actor and a
writer.

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I started acting when I was very young. [JESSE EISENBERG floats off screen, screen goes white]

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[Animated school building slides on screen with students out front acting]
I was in a children's theater group it kind of
provided a really nice outlet for me. Going to [students fade away]

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[zoom into the school doors and an alarm bell fades in and rings SFX:ringing and ANXIETY pulsates above alarm]
School was just this incredibly nerve-wracking experience i would dread it

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i was just living in a perpetual state of anxiety. [Bell rotates and moves of screen right]

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It's hard for me to exactly pinpoint what triggers this kind of
[an hand moves a "map of triggers" with Jesse's head and a line trailed with skulls leading to a red x with a treasure chest on it]

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anxiety. But comes in moments when i'm supposed
to feel good about something [Treasure disappears and Jesse frowns] it just feels like an

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[the skulls and map are replaced with and extension cord leading to the word Nerves and two lightning bolts] extension of normal nerves that you assume every
single person on the planet has [Jesse's head replaced by earth] but it can get

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to a point where it does become such an imposition
in your life. That it really does require some kind of help.
[World shrinks and NERVES grow until the world is the head of a stick figure and the less than sign is pointed toward NERVES]

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My profession both is a great inducer of
anxiety but also greatly cathartic.
[Film clapper board appears on screen and words *CLACK*appears]

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On the one hand I have probably the only job in the world where
you're required to go on a set full of 100 people
[Hand places a camera and tripod on mid frame and a stick figure wearing a headset and holding a clipboard followed by two stick figures slide onto frame]

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and scream and cry. That's unusual and that
could be really cathartic.
[camera & tripod go off screen and a smaller stick figure gets spotlighted. a speech bubble appears saying "I'll get you Superman!" Lights turn on and director calls "Cut!" and leaves screen]

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But it's also causes a lot of anxiety because you're in the
public eye and scrutinized in an unnatural way
[Crew member asks "What's wrong with Superman?" Crew members fade out and world appears left of frame with an eyeball fade in and spotlights the lone stick figure]

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seen by people you don't know.

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about 15 years ago I mentioned something in an interview about being anxious
[A camera appears camera left and stick figure grows and fades into Jesse's Avatar saying "I get anxious"]

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[two envelopes slide on screen][Envelopes fade out]
After that I got all these letters from people writing to me saying how helpful it was for
[Dear Jesse Eisenberg, I also get anxious! Best, Loving Fan]

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them to hear me talk about that. [Envelope slides onto screen and fades to white]

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and then I read something about a basketball player who said that
[a basketball fades in and nba logo hat appears on top of it]

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he had terrible anxiety. So for me basketball
players are like you know the gods among men. [halo appears above basketball]

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And when I read that that basketball player also
suffered from anxiety panic attacks before a game
[Background changes to textured red, podium and microphone appear in front of basketball and text bubble appears "I get anxious too!"]

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[smoke reveals only a basketball going through a basketball goal] [a scoreboard showing HOME and ANXIETY in the 4 period score with one second, HOME gets 3 points at the 0 time] I just had the greatest sense of relief because I look at

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[Jesse's Avatar appears wearing sunglasses on his eyes, the glasses grow and 2 Jesses appear in each lens]
basketball players the way some people might look at me. I mean it's such a cliche but I felt like not alone.

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[3 Stick figures appear on screen, the sun drops down with THE CURE written on it]
The truth is I, probably like most people who kind of have these experiences,
there's probably not going to be one perfect way to get rid of it.
[a smoke bomb clears the screen]

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However, I was volunteering at the
domestic violence shelter here and it reminded me
[A hand places the middle way house logo on screen]

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[Jesse's avatar replaces logo and his hat fades out]
that kind of getting outside yourself and
helping other people really does work.
[A stick figure helping another one up appears above Jesse's open head]

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[Thumbs up icon rises out of Jesse]
Kind of just releases the pressure on that secondary
punishment you know that guilt you might feel for
[GUILT rises from Jesse]

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worrying about yourself to begin with.
[GUILT dissolves out] [Jesse's hat fades back in]
So that's what's been really helpful for me.

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[Indiana map replaces Jesse's icon and a location icon appears on it]
Bloomington is the perfect place to get out of your own head
by helping others. There are so many opportunities

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[Middle way house banner appears and middlewayhouse.org appears underneath]
in this city to help other people and to me that
is the silver bullet of solving

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a lot of anxiety.
[Grahpics cut to Jesse Eisenberg sitting on a couch at IU Studios office.]

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[Screen fades to black, IU logo, INDIANA UNIVERSITY, research.iu.edu fade on and fade out, music fades]

Indiana native Ryan Niemiller shares about his journey to becoming a comedian and how he handles stigma associated with his disability.

Description of the video:

[Music fades in, A CONVERSATION WITH, IU LOGOs, RYAN NIEMILLER and a Ryan's avatar appear, 3 cream and 2 crimson lines scroll vertically through screen then goes white]

[Ryan's avatar appears in front of a brick wall]

So my name is Ryan Niemeler I am a touring national stand-up comedian [A spotlight appears on Ryan, AGT logo appears]

and I most recently season 14 of America's got Talent placed third place

[Map of Indiana appears, DE MOTTE and location icon appears on map]

I grew up in Indiana from a little town of northwest indiana called De Motte. [A trailer icon appears with a pink flamingo in it and is replaced by a cancellation sign with money in it]

I'm an old trailer park kid. so we were poor and then obviously having a disability like I have you know that's very different. Especially in a small town like that. [disability logo appears and then ripples]

[chalkboard appears and a beach ball hits it]

But I learned when I first started hanging out with other kids, if I [3 kids fade in and one catches the ball]

can make the jokes first people leave me alone.

[Jokes = Safety appear on chalkboard] [disability logo = Life experiences replaces the Jokes = Safety on the chalkboard]

It's super important for me to talk about the disability. I talk about my actual life experience. if you don't want me to talk about my disability

[Disability logo tilts and slides off chalkboard erasing the words as it goes off frame]

tell people to quit staring at me. [screen of moving eyes appear]

Tell people to hire me for real jobs.

[Join Our Team, Now Hiring!, Apply Now, Jobs Available, Open Positions clippings appear over a colorful background]

Tell people to date me. If I have to deal with the negative

[Red background and beating heart replace previous visual]

[Screen replaced with word STIGMA breaking glass]

stigmas of having disability you don't get to tell me I don't get to talk about it. [Ryan's avatar sits on stage with a stick figures watching him, the AGT logo in the upper right corner]

I think a lot of people especially after watching what I did on America's got Talent they sometimes will have this false narrative that

I'm super positive all the time and everything's great and it's not a big deal.

You know it's not fun.

[2 bubbles and a glitching, rotating smiley face appear from Ryan's avatar]

[Smiley face pops into Earth]

In a perfect world I wouldn't have chosen this. [Earth slides vertical off screen]

But on the other side of that, no matter how upset I get about it,

I'm not going to wake up and not have this disability anymore.

[Text bubble appears above Ryan, "I HAVE AN OBVIOUS DISABILITY" bubble is replaced with "IT'S BEING TOO HANDSOME" 3 small text bubbles appear above crowd "haha" "Ha!" "haha"]

[blue and white transition to white screen]

So I had to decide a long time ago, I could be sad and upset or I could

[SAD, UPSET appear on screen and cancellation symbols appear on both words]

[SAD, UPSET, get replaced by the word DIFFERENCE]

try to make some sort of difference.

[screen transitions to white]

Some of the ways that I get stigmatized a lot, usually if I go

[A grocery cart slides across screen leaving behind it a grocery store backdrop] out to just run errands people go out of their way to assist me but i haven't asked for that people assume that I'm gonna need help.

[Six smiling people appear on top and bottom of screen, 4 text bubbles pop up, and two more people appear one on left and right frame, two more text bubbles appear]

[screen goes white, a stick figure appears, a briefcase slides into his hand]

Getting hired for jobs people either wanting to put you in [Briefcase drops and is replaced with a broom,

broom drops and is replaced by a hammer]

positions you didn't like apply for because they think it'll be easier for you.

Or just flat out not hiring you because they assume you can't do it.

[Hammer drops and a wheelbarrow slides in and Stick figure falls into and is wheeled off screen]

[Transition to white screen, a red beating heart appears]

Had a lot of trouble with dating over the years. [DISABILITY appears over a now broken heart]

But like a disability is a hard sell for a lot of people. And we are just as wanting of love and affection and we have sexual desires too. [DISABILITY fades, LOVE, AFFECTION appear above and below the heart, SEXUAL INTIMACY appears on the sides.]

My mantra that i use all the time is just power

[Blue wash transition]

[POWER THROUGH appear on a beach backdrop]

through because you don't know what positive things you're gonna miss out on by letting all of that overwhelm you.

[A sun with a smile and sunglasses appear mid frame] [animated transition to Grocery store Backdrop, Ryan's avatar appears]

Even just getting out there and just standing up for yourself I think is important.

[A hand with an apple is offered to Ryan who raises his hand and NO THANKS appears]

If someone's offering you help and you don't need it tell them that. At the end of the day you know for better or worse you have to be the one that takes initiative of your own life. [Real RYAN NIEMILLER sits against a white backdrop talking]

[Screen goes black, IU bug fades out, IU Logo, Indiana University, research.iu.edu appear on screen, graphics fade out, music fades]

Zak Williams, mental health advocate and son of actor Robin Williams, discusses his work with Bring Change to Mind and the importance of talking openly about his own mental health struggles.

Description of the video:

*Music Begins*

[Video/animation: “A Conversation with Zak Williams” moves in and fades onto screen along with the IU logo and an animated depiction of Zak Williams. Everything fades to white]

*Music Fades Out*

*Music Begins*

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “My name is Zach Williams. I'm a mental health advocate and a board member of the mental health non-profit Bring Change to Mind.”

[Video/animation: “Zak Williams” slides into upper part of frame as the animated depiction of Zak also slides up into center frame from bottom. An image of a brain slides into the left side of the screen while the Bring Change to Mind logo slides into the frame on the right.]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “Bring Change to Mind is a mental health non-profit focused on providing peer-to-peer resources at schools led by students.”

[Video/animation: Bring Change to Mind logo grows large and reduces to medium size in the center of frame. Zak’s animation hands drag in a brain to the left of the frame and his right hand draws an image of a group of students conversing. These images slide out of frame as an image of the U.S. slides into frame while green dots appear over the map as a number counter counts up to show numbers changing up to 246. Zak’s hand pushes in an image of a high school graduate in cap and gown in front of the map.”

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “It is focused on removing the stigma associated with mental health.”

[Video/animation: Zak’s hand pushes in a brain into the center of the frame while stigma related words drop onto and bounce off of the brain falling out of the bottom of the frame. The brain fades to white]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “Bring Change to Mind exists on the Indiana University campus as a University Bring Change to Mind Program.”

[Video/animation: The Bring Change to Mind logo fades in from white and moves to the left revelaing the IU logo as it moves to the left. Zak’s hand enter frame reaching out of the top of frame to drag in the University Bring Change to Mind logo as the other logos fade to white.]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “The program enables and empowers a community of individuals who care about the topic of mental health to connect and to discuss their personal issues and the issues that they are going through in general.”

[Video/animation: The University Bring Change to Mind logo shrinks and moves to the top of the frame. Zak’s hand grabs out of frame to the left dragging in a group of students conversing placing it under the logo as a yellow light fades in under the logo over the students. Zak’s hand drags in image of two people conversing in a college lounge area, then drags it out of frame to the left.]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “I think it's important for Bring Change to Mind to have a home and college campuses throughout the United States because college students often are going into an environment on their own for the first time.”

[Video/animation: Image of U.S. map appears while Zak’s hand drags the Bring Change to Mind logo over the map from left to right turning the grey map green. The map fades to white. Zak’s hand pushes in an image of the back of a female student with a back pack on into center of frame from the bottom of frame. Image of school hallway appears as background. The image of the female moves up and down to appear walking. The background changes to various different college hallway spaces.]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “And it's isolating. It can feel disconnecting. It can be scary. I've dealt with depression and anxiety over the course of my life and I've found it difficult to talk about what I was going through because at times I felt like it wasn’t important.”

[Video/animation: “Zak’s hands drag in and drag out the words “isolating”, “disconnecting”, and “scary” as they are said by Zak. Zak’s animated depiction rises up from the bottom of the frame while “anxiety” and “depression” orbits around his head. “I FELT LIKE IT WASN’T IMPORTANT” fades in on the upper half of the screen and Zak moves down to where his eyes are peaking over the bottom of the frame. Zak leaves frame below and words fade to white.]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: ”I still struggle with that. I'm getting better, certainly, but the sigma still exists for me.”

[Video/animation: A banner with “Indiana University” slides down from top of frame, a podium and zak behind it slides in from bottom. Zak’s mouth moves to the words being spoken.]

Zak Williams speaks in voiceover: “It's important for people who are struggling with mental health issues to communicate with their peers. Because finding connection and commonality and ways to truly bond, especially if you're going through a difficult time, is healing in so many different ways. It also provides an opportunity for people to find support that they wouldn't otherwise have found and also to be able to find a deeper connection with themselves.”

[Video/animation: One by one a triangular important sign appears and moves to left of screen, a brain appears and moves to center, “communication” moving around clockwise in a circle appears and moves right. Zak’s hand pushes in “PEER TO PEER SUPPORT” to the top of the frame. Images fade out and Zak’s hands push in two figures of people whose black circular heads turn into yellow smiley faces as yellow plus symbols bounce back and forth between the two people. The black bodies turn from black to yellow from the bottom up and each person has a red beating heart that appears on their chests. Zak’s hand enters frame and moves everything out of frame to the left revealing real footage of Zak Williams sitting speaking the words in the voiceover to the camera.]

*Music Fades Out*

*Music Fades In*

[Video/animation: Indiana University logo and end title fades in then fades out. “BE KIND TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS” appears on a white background with the IU logo at the bottom of the screen. This all faades to white and the University Bring Change to Mind logo fades in from white. All fades to black.]

*Music Fades Out*

Here's what you can do.

Everyone plays a role in making the world a stigma-free place. Below are links to resources to learning more about stigma, what you can do to fight against it and available support.

End Stigma

Everyone plays a role in ending stigma in our society

Here's what you can do.

Research Impact resources and social media channels