Health Stigma In Nursing

In order to understand stigma in modern society, the past must be reviewed; those who have done this in detail include Appignanesi (2008); Cromby, Harper and Reavey (2013); Foucalt and Khalfa (2006); McCarthy-Jones (2012) and Scull (2006). Historically, mental illness has been explained in a variety of ways, such as; evil energies, spirits and acts of god set to “crush” those who did not follow societies norms (Leviticus 20:27) (Read, Mosher & Bentall, 2013). Perhaps the most important movement that contributed to mental health stigma was the opening of the “Bethlem royal hospital” which became an asylum exclusively for the mad in 1377 after converting from a hospital (Pietikainen, 2015). Until the late 1800’s the response to the mentally
In professional workplace settings, stigma may be more concealed; however it is likely to manifest itself as negative judgements and stereotyping which can lead to unfair job allocation (Rüsch et al. 2014). One area that has been studied in depth with regards to mental health stigma is the armed forces (Sharp et al. 2015). Military culture enforces the idea that the service men and woman should be mentally resilient to emotional hardship (Quartana et al. 2014). Historically, soldiers who were suffering with Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were considered “cowards” and were shamed (Pividori 2014). Social exploration has also shown that certain cultures may actively increase their distance, both physically and socially from those who are known to have a mental illness (Ando, Yamaguchi, Aoki and Thornicroft 2013). There have been cases of patients being disowned by their family upon diagnosis (Earnshaw, Smith and Copenhaver 2013). Again, this is thought to be due to a lack of education around mental health (Mehta 2015) and instead judgements are based on outdated ideas and customs (Link and Phelan
2013) resulting in a break down the boundaries between the perceived “in-group” and “out-group” (Turner, Wildschut, Sedikides and Gheorghiu 2013), although this replies on the individual feeling comfortable enough to disclose (Corrigan 2015). Large organizations that use on site councillors and welfare teams promote a positive environment for those who are suffering with mental illness; clients are more likely to seek help and talk openly about their issues, in turn educating others and lowering stigma (Vincenti