We have a list of concepts but I chose “stigmatization”. The first concept paper was stigmatization in mentally ill people. The final paper is to elaborate more on the topic. So I will like the paper to relate to stigmatization associated with mental illness.
Stigmatization on Mentally Ill People
Stigma and stigmatization portend a form of social, physical, and psychological discrimination against an individual or group suffering from certain conditions. Stigma can permeate the lives of people with mental illness in various ways. The impact of such perversion is diminished self-esteem, increased suicidal tendencies, and deprived social opportunities. The public has adopted certain stereotypes about mental illness. Such stereotypes are extended discrimination, abuse and abuse, and lack of willingness to associate with mental illness people. Most caregivers, friends, family members, and the general public assume the need to reject mentally ill people because they are not valued. Some of the effects of stigma on mentally ill people are their feelings of isolation, hopelessness, and shame, reluctance to seek help, physical and social harassment, and in extreme cases, the tendency to be suicidal. It is imperative to deal with stigma through education and creating awareness. Stigmatization of mentally ill people is a significant barrier to recovery and treatment, leading to poor care quality for mentally ill people.
Stigma and Stigmatization
Stigmatization characterizes the extensive devaluation of people who have a mental illness. Research indicates that stigma embodies the practice of discriminating against a group of people based on their inadequacies, challenges, and health status (Murney et al., 2020). The understanding that this argument shape suggests that stigma is how the public perceives people suffering from health illness to be dangerous or inadequate and unfit to coexist in the society. The underlying element of stigma is that people who stigmatize others do so because they have a negative perception about a group of people based on the existing social norms and expectations that society has created. Knaak et al. (2017) outline that stigmatization is the overall psychosocial response to devalue persons with mental health in a way that stimulates abuse to their behavioral, cognitive, and emotional wellbeing.
Stigmatization is the continuous and conscious act of labeling people with mental illness as psychotic in which Da Silva et al. (2020) indicate as social discrimination stereotyping, and prejudicing. From this understanding, stigma aims at abusing the status of a person through shame and discrimination. Stigma and discrimination are common issues that occur in our societies. In principle, stigma is a problem of medical, social, and ethical proportion that negatively affects the quest for supporting people with mental illness, prevents the outcome of treatments, and integrates these patients in the community (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). Ethical guidelines emphasize every patient’s need to receive dignified therapies within the framework of respect, autonomy, integrity, and justice. The absence of such ethical practices, coupled with the lack of knowledge, entrenches prejudice and alienation against people with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
Stigma is a social and relational process through which the public discriminates against groups or individuals based on negative characteristics. Among the people with mental illnesses, health care practitioners stigmatize them creating a barrier to healthcare access. To understand the social exclusion of mentally ill people, Mannarini and Rossi (2019) recommend using indicators related to prejudice. For this reason, stigmatization is the expression of perceived negative notions against people with mental challenges. Members of the public have insufficient knowledge of discrimination against mental disabilities because they have acquired prejudice during their lifetime. Stigma extends to the families of mentally ill persons, mental health institutions, and employees. Gaiha et al. (2020) underscore that stigmatization is the potential of labeling persons with mental illness as tainted individuals. Concerning this, extensive stigmatization prevents approximately 20 percent of young people worldwide from seeking treatment actions over their mental illnesses. As a result, stigmatization creates uncertainty where society perceives people with mental illnesses as cowards. Thus, they introspectively blame them for their misfortunes. Through such unconscious biases, stigmatization leads people with mental health challenges to continuously suffer from reduced efforts to access mental health services.
The general public in the western world has widely endorsed stigma about mental illness. Studies suggest that most people in these countries have developed stigmatizing tendencies about mental health (Murney et al., 2020). The views about stigma in mental health are not limited to family members of the victims or the public but also well-trained professionals who subscribe to prejudice and stereotype about mental health. The definition of stigma informs the overall impact that discrimination has on the victims and society at large. Stigma exists when various separations, labeling, stereotyping, loss of status, and extensive discrimination occur together in a power situation. The labeling process stems from t Link’s modified labeling theory that fundamentally connects the cognitive and affective responses leading to the behavioral reactions (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). From this understanding, many people with mental illnesses suffer significant challenges and struggle with symptoms and disabilities that result from their conditions. These people suffer the stigma that results from a lack of awareness about mental illness and thus becomes robbed of the opportunities that define parameters of quality life.
Impact of Effect of Stigmatization on Mentally Ill Individuals
The effects of stigma on mentally ill people characterize a public health issue in almost all societies. Although these consequences vary from lack of knowledge and understanding from caregivers, families, and friends, they extend to discrimination of the mentally ill people at school or workplaces. According to Zhang et al. (2019), stigmatization creates an environment of psychological burden, stress, and aggravated mental health status. Given the negative discrimination from caregivers, friends, and public members, mentally ill people exhibit self-esteem issues coming from stigmatization. It is plausible to note that stigmatization’s overall effect lies in diminishing the quality of life a mentally ill person leads. Research indicates that, on average, half of the people on antipsychotic therapy fail to correctly engage in their treatment processes because of stigma (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). As a result of stigmatization, many mentally ill persons develop self-low esteem and confidence, which further complicates their social, physical, and professional functioning.
Model Case
Among the African Americans in the U.S, there is a high mental illness stigma. Most African Americans face challenges for their victims to seek effective treatments. Such stigma can have lifelong damage to the patients, their families, and the community. Stigma is a learned behavior. Nurses who conducted cultural assessments among the African Americans revealed that the leading cause of high relapse rates in mental health treatment is stigmatization. Research shows that 70 percent of young people with psychiatric disorders do not receive the necessary treatment (Zhang et al., 2019). In essence, many people have expressed reluctance to seek much-needed help due to stigmatization. Health belief models explain the reasons why a mentally ill person chooses not to participate in the treatment. The assumption in this model stems from the principle that human beings act rationally to diminish their perceived threats and enhance the benefits. The critical element in this argument is that stigma increased health-related behavior and affects treatment due to the social environment.
African Americans with mental health avoid stigma by avoiding pursuing treatment services. The propensity for such impact stems from the fear of discrimination and the incapacity to receive resources needed for treatment. In this model case, the consequence of multiple stigmatized social groups is the lack of proper structures to create awareness, support the mentally ill and encourage them to seek medical intervention (). Therefore, social stigma against people with mental illness can course more mental health problems and prevent any institutionalized and personal wiliness of a person to get the necessary help.
Borderline Case
Mental illness stigma contributes to suicidal ideation. In the U.S, young people diagnosed with various mental health illnesses ran away from their families, indicating the impact of stigmatization. Research outlines the relationship between perceived stigma and suicidal thoughts stems from the overall h feeling of helplessness among patients with mental illness (Gaiha et al., 2020). Families and caregivers’ attempts to maintain the secrecy around their relative being mentally ill contribute to grave emotional consequences leading to higher frequencies of hopelessness and suicidal tendencies. The anticipation and general experience of stigma in everyday life introduce various adverse effects that culminate into social isolation, shame, and suicidal ideation. While this impact varies differently across different persons with mental illnesses, the tenets of modified labeling theory explain how stigma is likely to fear and social rejection among the victims (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). The family effort to hide mental illness to avoid labeling and stigma is the foundation of stigmatization. While the correlation between secrecy and mental condition helps the mentally ill person’s family, it is harmful. It leads to increased emotional and cognitive distress in terms of hopelessness, helplessness, and decisional conflict. All these lead to suicidal ideation.
Effects across Communities
Mental health illness negatively impacts the public life of the victims and their families. Mental Health Foundation indicated that approximately nine out of ten people facing mental health stigma suffer long-term impacts in finding employment opportunities, spouses, and long-term relationships. They also face challenges in being socially included in the larger society and even experience problems finding suitable housing (Da Silva et al., 2020). The effects of stigma lie in the understanding that the life and livelihood of people living with mental health become worse with the public perception, attitude, and labeling of the mental health people. Such people continue living with the stigma to an extent where they are left to tend for themselves. In such cases, stigma allows mentally ill people to differentiate discriminating expressions in large gestures (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). Caregivers, family, and friends often use offensive, dismissive and hurtful language that upset the psychological and social wellbeing of mentally ill people. As a result, the affected mentally ill people and their immediate environment internalize negative beliefs, suffer social isolation, and a wide range of low self-esteem, which disrupts the victim’s everyday life.
Stigma leads to violence and physical abuse. Da Silva et al. (2020) observe that the many negative psychological consequences of mental health stigma are violence indicators. Elements of low self-esteem, shame, loneliness, and hopelessness can potentially make the mentally ill person violent. The reason is that social rejection triggers the mentally ill person to adapt to the discriminating environment and seek mechanisms of copping. Violence is a complex phenomenon that comes with various social and individual risk factors (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019). Mentally health patients who have schizophrenia suffer violence and physical abuse from their caregivers. The lack of understanding from caregivers’ hypothesis increased the vulnerability of the mental health victims to violence. The stigma and physical abuse originate from the general stereotyped view about mental illness and the victims. Many people in society believe that mentally ill health people are dangerous and violent. Therefore, these victims are at more risk of physical attacks from public members, families, or caregivers. Similarly, there is a high likelihood that these victims can harm themselves or harm other people.
Intervention to Mental Illness Stigma
The most effective model of intervention for mental health stigmatization is creating awareness. The media plays a leading role in providing information about mental health illness. Such efforts lessen stereotypes and allow members of the public to participate in awareness programs on mental illness. The outcome is the improved attitude about persons with mental health issues, thus reduced stigma. The media has an ethical responsibility to create awareness through a systemic and all-inclusive approach given the extent of the negative impacts of stigma on mentally ill people (Klarić & Lovrić, 2017). The professionals will design programs that encourage the treatment of individuals suffering from mental health by allowing all stakeholders’ participation in the awareness campaigns. The effect of the awareness is to increase people’s knowledge and change their perception and attitude. Mannarini and Rossi (2019) indicate that by developing the public image of the mentally ill patients through motion pictures, media, and literature, members of the society will adopt reasonable approaches to accommodate patients with mental illnesses. As a strategy, awareness considers the background of stigma and develops programs that determine and improve anti-stigma campaigns. The result is that stakeholders, at all social and medical levels would effectively promote the attitude supporting and embraces patients with mental illness in their societies.
Education is a primary intervention strategy against stigmatization in mental health. According to the Committee (2016), it is imperative to note that education crafts a process of presenting factual information about mental illness. Dissemination of knowledge at all levels of society effectively persuades people against negative beliefs and attitudes on stigmatization. Educational intervention can help streamline other strategic interventions and allow families, caregivers, and members of the public to have a better approach to managing patients with mental illnesses. Combating public stigma depends on the mental health literacy campaigns. The significance of education lies in the premise that it encourages people to devise their mechanism of meeting mentally challenged people’s health needs. Therefore, the strategy increases the proclivity with which the public’s ideologies, attitude, and general response towards stigmatization decreases (Klarić & Lovrić, 2017). The outcome of this is that health care intervention becomes immensely embraced by everyone, which improves the diagnosis, treatment, and reintegration of mentally healthy individuals. It is paramount to increase public knowledge and education around mental illness because most stigmatization originates from misplaced fear and lack of understanding. Through education, people will review reliable sources of information on mental health conditions and support friends, family members, co-workers, and classmates battling mental health illness.
Protest is an effective model of advocacy. As a reactive strategy, protests reinforce the message that stops the media and other stakeholders from refraining from stigmatization and other inaccurate representation of mental illness (Knaak, Mantler & Szeto, 2017). Protests allow the public to stop believing in mental illness’s negative views, therefore sanctioning stigma and stereotypes. Evidence suggests that protest campaigns are effective in withdrawing stigmatizing messages of mental illness. According to Murney et al. (2020), the attempts to reduce the negative attitudes about mental health issues rests on the protests. In some cases, policymakers do not recommend protests because of their ripple effect in promoting positive attitudes. However, protest is a civic advocacy approach that influences the authorities to regulate informed mental health decisions. This approach’s impact is to change the stigma and allow people to reach a better understanding of mental illness. Therefore, protests provide information about mentation health that criminalizes stigmatization and lessens the negative stereotypes. There is no doubt that the use of protests helps alter the mechanisms of stigmatizing at the grassroots levels. The method is critical in targeting community leaders and other policymakers in developing other supportive intervention mechanisms to help protect mentally ill persons’ human rights.
Contacting mentally ill people is critical in addressing the challenges of stigmatization. Research reveals that diminishing stigma depends on the public’s efforts to accommodate persons with mental illness at the workplace, in relationships, or neighborhoods (Klarić & Lovrić, 2017). The ability of society to allow mentally ill persons to hold jobs, enjoy other employment opportunities, live as neighbors in communities is critical to reducing stigmatization. The principles of contact explain the inverse relationship between lowering psychiatric stigma and maintaining continuous contact with individuals who have a mental illness. The public has the opportunity to meet people with severe mental illness as part of the constant efforts to discount stigma. Such interpersonal contacts are significant when they enhance regular interactions with mentally ill people as peers. Understanding the dimension of stigma in mental health rests on the concerted effort to relate with the victims and lessen the impacts that come with stigmatization. Therefore, maintaining contact as an anti-stigma intervention promotes an environment in which public and self-stigma withers.
Conclusion
The concept of stigmatization refers to socially excluding mentally ill persons. Stigma based on mental health is highly prevalent in western societies and across the world. The impact of mental health stigma depends on the negative effect that individual victims, patients, and psychiatric institutions face. Given that stigma is related to prejudice and stereotype, its impact ranges from suicidal ideation, aggravated stress and mental illness, violence, and inability to seek medication. Recommendations to reducing mental health issues reveal a four-prong approach of creating awareness, education, protests, and contact. These methods’ effectiveness increases the fight against stigma when t stakeholders combine education, contact with stigmatized groups, and demonstration. To achieve efficiency in anti-stigma programs, the authorities and community leaders should lead all groups of people, the media, and healthcare provider in treating patients and accommodating them in the everyday life of the society. Therefore, stigma is the primary impediment for mental health ill patients to receive treatment, and effectively coexist in the society
References
“Committee”. (2016). Ending discrimination against people with mental and substance use disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change. Committee on the Science of Changing Behavioral Health Social Norms; Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. NCBI. https://doi.org/10.17226/23442
Da Silva, A. G., Baldaçara, L., Cavalcante, D. A., Fasanella, N. A., & Palha, A. P. (2020). The impact of mental illness stigma on psychiatric emergencies. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00573
Gaiha, S. M., Taylor Salisbury, T., Koschorke, M., Raman, U., & Petticrew, M. (2020). Stigma associated with mental health problems among young people in India: A systematic review of magnitude, manifestations, and recommendations. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02937-x
Knaak, S., Mantler, E., & Szeto, A. (2017). Mental illness-related stigma in healthcare. Healthcare Management Forum, 30(2), 111-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0840470416679413
Klarić, M., & Lovrić, S. (2017). Methods to fight mental illness stigma. Psychiatr Danub, 29(Suppl 5), 910-917.
Mannarini, S., & Rossi, A. (2019). Assessing mental illness stigma: a complex issue. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2722.
Murney, M. A., Sapag, J. C., Bobbili, S. J., & Khenti, A. (2020). Stigma and discrimination related to mental health and substance use issues in primary health care in Toronto, Canada: A qualitative study. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 15(1), 1744926. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2020.1744926
Zhang, Z., Sun, K., Jatchavala, C., Koh, J., Chia, Y., Bose, J., Li, Z., Tan, W., Wang, S., Chu, W., Wang, J., Tran, B., & Ho, R. (2019). Overview of stigma against psychiatric illnesses and advancements of anti-stigma activities in six Asian societies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(1), 280. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17010280
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