Mental Health Stigma: Causes, Effects and Solutions
Mental health stigma continues to be the main impediment which prevents sufferers from receiving help and sharing their issues more so than any other stigmas faced by the people today. There have been significant strides toward lifting the popular stereotypes regarding mental health issues, but this has not spared the mentally ill from discrimination and ostracization. This article discusses the causes of stigma, its consequences for the individual and society at large, and measures that can be employed to the alleviate the problem.
Understanding Mental Health Stigma
Typically, the term ‘mental health stigma’ refers to the customary negative attitudes and stereotypes that are directed at individuals due to some mental health issues. Often these beliefs stem from misconceptions or lack of knowledge about mental health. Stigmatization can take several forms including stereotypes, social exclusion, discrimination, etc. all of which can have devastating effects to the victims.
Stigma is typically classified in two categories: Public stigma and self-stigma.
Public Stigma: People with mental illness are countered with negative ideologies or discrimination and this response is provided by the general population.
Self-Stigma: This is when other people’s stigma is then taken by the individuals and modified into feelings of lack of self-worth, depression and unwilling to ask for assistance.
Mental Health Stigma Causes
Stigma associated with mental health issues stems from the incorrectness and myths regarding mental illnesses. In the past, many people viewed and diagnosed a mental illness with other dangerous behavior or weakness of the person. Ignorance and a scarce exposure to correct data have lasting stigma up to this day, augmented by:
Media influences: Movies, television programs, and news coverage often claim that a mentally ill person is violent, dangerous, or incompetent. This negative image contributes to the formed image.
Socio-Cultural Attitudes: In several cultures, health issues regarding the mind are attributed to the failure in morals of a person which makes it hard for the person to get help due to stigmatization.
Words: Words such as “crazy,” “insane” as well as “psycho” are abusive terms used for people with mental challenges which should not be, and hence adding to the stigma. The Impact of Mental Health Stigma
The impact of stigma can be both far-reaching and very deep in the individual and in the society. Some of the most important effects include:
Reluctance to Seek Treatment: Avoidance or procrastination in seeking help is also due to the fear of receiving negative feedback, ridicule, or even discrimination. This might, however, aggravate the symptoms and eventually lead to more enhanced mental issues in the future.
Social Isolation: The people who have been stigmatized suffer from being socially cut off or excluded from their support systems and communities leading to increasing feelings of social and emotional disconnection. The further social exclusion may affect their general mental health and recovery.
Lower Self-Esteem and Hopelessness: The feeling of self-stigma tends to discourage people from valuing themselves. They mostly often result to think that there is no hope, and they remain worthless thus even the likelihood of getting on with life or getting help is little to none.
Discrimination in the Workplace: The stigma surrounding mental illness is specifically pervasive in the context of opportunities for employment. A person may be discriminated against when it comes to hiring or even settling in a position through promotions and being retained in that position because of stereotypes on their competence to execute job functions. Workers in some instances go to the extremes of concealing psychological issues at the workplace for fear of stigma only to end up suffering from extreme stress and fatigue.
Limited Financing: The funding of mental health studies and services is often lower than that of other healthcare areas which is partly attributable to the stigma attached to mental illness. This leads to lesser resources being put into mental health care and research, hence the reason why such stigma continues in society and so does poor mental health care.
Social Strategies to Reduce Mental Illness Stigmatization
The issue of stigma in mental illness must be tackled both on a social and individual level. Some of the most successful initiatives include the following:
Educational Information Efforts: Giving this type of information out as well as information about treatment will assist in correcting the erroneous paradigm. The stigma on mental illness has been observed to decrease because of public health campaigns that promote mental health and encourage its conversation.
Media Representation: There is a need to change the narrative on mental illness as it is reported in the media. Depictions of individuals with mental illnesses in all their complexities and humanity can help change society’s views of mental illness. It is also important to promote good journalism and film industry practices that do well on mental illness.
Personal Contact and the Role of the Narrative: Research has shown that, personal closure in a person suffering from physical or mental health problems helps in reducing stigma. These are celebrities and public figures like Demi Lovato and Michael Phelps who advocate with their own experiences that have allowed people to be open about mental health. Concerns about mental health issues and the ability to manage them become more natural in light of personal success stories because a person has previously developed an ownership over a difficult experience and is not afraid of the unknown anymore.
Encouraging Mental Health at the Place of Employment: Stigma exists, and employers can do wearing effort to help reduce it. Psychologic training for employers, non-rigid working regimes and culture of speaking out on the problems of mental health will help employees to ask for help where necessary without facing criticism.
Advocacy and Changes in Policy: Nami and similar stigma fighting organizations have managed to alleviate stigma through instituting policy initiatives to enhance the coverage of services that protect and improve mental health. With the issue of last-minute efforts and practicing laws to correct discrimination against those suffering from mental illness. Policies on mental health can prevent the mental illness from affecting people more.
FAQs
What is Mental Health Stigma?
Mental health stigma can be described as the prejudiced perceptions and views that people have concerning mental illnesses that can lead to mistreatment and decreased opportunities for care.
Why is mental health stigma harmful?
Stigma discourages people from talking about mental issues and those issues that might be resolvable due to shame. Stigma also results in an individual’s social withdrawal, low self-efficacy, and the inability to manage relationships or hold on to a job.
What is a common myth about a person’s mental health?
Common myths comprise the notion that people with mental disorders are aggressive, dangerous, abnormalities, or beneath the surface, diagnosis of mental disorder is a disease, and everybody including healthy people may suffer mental health issues, and after treatment and prevention work the individual can function normally.
In what ways can you assist in helping reduce the stigma attributed to mental health?
You can alleviate stigma because persons can be provided with educating themselves and others on mental health and awareness campaigning in relation to prejudices. Sharing of insights or sharing of the diagnosis and encouraging discussions of people concerning mental health can change perceptions.
Is it possible to eliminate mental health stigma altogether?
In the near future stigma as a phenomenon cannot be completely abolished, but at least this can be controlled by educating people, enhancing the media representation, or promoting healthier policy frameworks.
Conclusion
It is unequivocally clear that stigma surrounding mental health care is one of the biggest obstacle towards proper care and support of people suffering from mental disorders globally. We can overcome these obstacles by providing accurate education, better representation in media, and healthy interactions amongst ourselves in the society. It should not be this way. There has to be continuous efforts by individuals, communities and policymakers to ensure that such walls are broken so that all people get the help and support they need to flourish.