Social Stigmas

An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older, or about one in four adults, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year. When applied to the U.S. census in 2004 population estimation for those 18 and older, this translates to 57.7 million people. (http://www.thekimfoundation.org) Unfortunately, people with serious mental illness are often times face more than just mental challenges. Most people only recognize the struggle with the symptoms and disabilities that result from the illness/disease; however, they also face challenges from the stereotypes and prejudice that come from the various misunderstandings about mental illness. As a result of both, people with mental illness are robbed of the opportunities that define
Stigmas about mental health issues seem to be widely recognized by the general population of the Western world. Studies propose that the majority of citizens in the United States and many Western European nations have stigmatizing attitudes about mental illness. Outside of the general populous, denouncing views about mental illness may even effect well-trained professionals. Most mental health disciplines actually subscribe to various stereotypes about mental illness. When compared to Western nations, stigma seems to be less evident in numerous Asian and African countries. It is uncertain whether this finding represents a cultural sphere that does not promote stigma or a dearth of research in these societies. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The available research indicates that, while attitudes toward mental illness vary among most non-Western cultures, the stigma of mental illness may be less severe than that of the Western societies. While the potential for stigmatization of mental illness certainly exists in non-Western cultures, it seems to primarily attach to the more chronic forms of illness that fail to respond to traditional treatments. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) Several themes describe misconceptions about mental illness and the conforming stigmatizing attitudes. For example, media evaluation of film and print have acknowledged three in particular: people with mental illness are homicidal maniacs who need to be feared, they have childlike perceptions of the world that should be marveled, or they are responsible for their illness because they have weak character. Despite stigmatizing attitudes not being limited to mental illness, the public seems to condemn people with mental disabilities more than people with related conditions such as physical illness. Contrasting those with physical disabilities, people with mental illness are often times perceived by the