Mental Health Stigma Research Paper

Stigma is one of the biggest barriers to accessing mental health services. The media and Hollywood movies have cultivated stigma by falsely representing people with mental health disorders. For example, movies often portray characters with mental health problems in institutions smoking incessantly, with volatile outbreaks, and a Thorazine shuffle. In addition, when a mass shooting occurs the media declares the perpetrator mentally ill. For this reason, the misconceptions surrounding mental illness need fixing. The discrimination and bias leading to stigma are overcome by: treating persons with mental disorders as a person first; issuing empirical data and statistics publicly; and integrating physical and mental health care. First, to combat stigma, I would educate the community through public service announcements. Frequently, we refer to people with mental health disorders as their illness. For example, it is common practice to call a person with schizophrenia, a “schizophrenic”; so, it further stigmatizing to the person and damages their personhood. In contrast, persons with heart disease or diabetes are not labeled by their disease. For this
In particular, individuals with emotion disturbances are violent. In reality, most are not violent; but are more likely to be victims of violence. Also, individuals suffering from mental illness are incompetent and have no hope of recovery. In contrast, mental illness does not mean inept and hopeless. In fact, many are successful and those who seek treatment get better. For educational purposes I would publish brochures with factual data and statistics and mail them to the organizations. Likewise, I would have mental health professionals lecture these agencies regularly; to put out the truth behind psychological