Mental Health Stigma Essay
Mental illness should be seen as an umbrella term, that covers a variety of diseases, symptoms, treatment and recovery options. Recovery from mental illness does not focus on eliminating the disease entirely but actually being able to control the symptoms and live a quality life. A person diagnosed with a mental illness struggles not only with symptoms of the disease but also the stigmatization of their mental illness. Stigma is not a new concept and it does not solely affect people with mental illnesses, stigma has been around since social societies started to develop and it affects most minority groups. For a person with mental illness dealing with stigma from the general public can impede or even eliminate the possibility of having a successful
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In modern society stigma, a social construct that can be associated with social disgrace to and exclusion, can be paralleled to ancient Greek’s “sitzein”. Generally, stigma can be put into five types: self stigma, public stigma, professional stigma, label stigma and stigma by association (Serani). Self stigma occurs when one has internalized negative views of mental illness that they have unknowingly learned through years of being exposed to stigma and are expressing them through self hate (Corrigan). As it sounds, self stigma occurs when a person stigmatizes themselves. The most common stigma that happens would be public stigma; this develops through media, movies, and anything that uses mental illness as a joke or a shock factor (Serani). Public stigma leads to generalizing symptoms of mental illnesses and causes the general public to fear mental illness because of the misinformation it spreads. A type of stigma that occurs within the professional level would be professional stigma, a stigma that happens past the general public into the educated professionals in mental health fields who discriminate people with mental illnesses because of their diagnosis (Serani). Professional stigma can lead into the abuse experienced by some mentally ill individuals from their therapists or
In modern society stigma, a social construct that can be associated with social disgrace to and exclusion, can be paralleled to ancient Greek’s “sitzein”. Generally, stigma can be put into five types: self stigma, public stigma, professional stigma, label stigma and stigma by association (Serani). Self stigma occurs when one has internalized negative views of mental illness that they have unknowingly learned through years of being exposed to stigma and are expressing them through self hate (Corrigan). As it sounds, self stigma occurs when a person stigmatizes themselves. The most common stigma that happens would be public stigma; this develops through media, movies, and anything that uses mental illness as a joke or a shock factor (Serani). Public stigma leads to generalizing symptoms of mental illnesses and causes the general public to fear mental illness because of the misinformation it spreads. A type of stigma that occurs within the professional level would be professional stigma, a stigma that happens past the general public into the educated professionals in mental health fields who discriminate people with mental illnesses because of their diagnosis (Serani). Professional stigma can lead into the abuse experienced by some mentally ill individuals from their therapists or