A Proposal For Anti Stigma Training Program

When a person with mental illness feels stigmatized among the community they seek health care professionals who can help them feel better. Consumers expect to have understanding and respect in the health sector. Unfortunately, some consumers experience the opposite way and they also felt the stigma with health care providers (SANE Australia 2013).

One of the biggest contributors for poor healthcare is the stigma against mental health. This stigma allows healthcare providers to view those with a mental illness as having low relevance, thus creating disinclination towards providing adequate resources and/or care. This negative stance, based on misinformation and prejudice creates those that have a mental illness to lose their self confidence. Because of this loss, people with mental illness decide not to contribute to their health or livelihood. In the past fifty years, many advances have been made in mental healthcare. However, with the attached stigma, many people choose to not seek out treatment.

While stigma may not necessarily be a cause of a person’s mental disorder, it can certainly contribute to the complication and perpetuation of their illness. The effect of stigma goes well beyond just the patient and provides a commentary on society’s overall level of intolerance of those who are considered different from the majority. By recognizing the level of stigma that exists, perhaps we can alter that behavior and gravitate towards a more productive attitude towards mental illness.

In the United States the Mental Health Care field is one of the most underserved areas of healthcare. The mental healthcare field faces many challenges to the proper treatment of patients from both a societal and professional standpoint. From a societal perspective a negative stereotype is associated with patients seeking psychiatric care. Patients seeking care are often labeled as defective or damaged. Add in the complication that most patients with mental illness appear to be normal, accepting that someone is ill without outward symptoms can also be difficult for a society to understand. From a professional perspective the challenges within the mental health care industry include personal prejudice, staffing issues, and problems with coordinating care. The combination of these factors has a direct negative impact on the willingness of individuals suffering from mental illness in seeking the care needed to treat the symptoms of mental illness.

Within the past two decades there’s been a revival in efforts to reduce stigmatization attached to mental illnesses. It was concluded that if mental illnesses were perceived better as ‘real’ diseases by the public that stigma would go down greatly. Reports proposed the idea that better scientific understanding of mental illnesses by the general public could greatly reduce stigma. Stigma is intensely rooted in social and cultural norms it’s patterns devalue and dehumanize groups of individuals within society (in this case mentally ill people). Stigma constructs barriers for individuals, barriers that limit a person’s abilities to have equal opportunities for employment, safe housing, health care and social relationships.Efforts to reduce stigma in recent years have

To many a stigma is a disgraceful flaw, that of a negative presence. In mental health this stigma is overwhelming. Approximately 57.7 million Americans experience a mental health disorder in any given year. (National Alliance on Mental Illness) People in dire need of help are not seeking it. Mental illnesses are going undiagnosed. The mental health stigma is having a negative impact on the proper diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.

Mental health patients are often shunned and experience discrimination by mental health professionals due to the social stigma attached to them. Though, healthcare system is a place where mental health patients should be dealt with kindness and compassion so that their disorder or disease is well treated. Shunning and neglecting attitude by mental health professionals is not very uncommon because they are not very optimistic about the results of the mentally ill patients (McDaid, 2008).

Rosenfield, 1997 examined the relationship of stigma and mental health services on the life quality of patients. Scientists conducted research at The Club/Habilitation Services Program which is part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Through the program, rehabilitative care, supervision/guidance, services for basic needs, and training in psychosocial skills were offered for mentally ill patients. The goal of this program was to help patients receive independence and develop decision making skills. Moreover, supportive relationships between staff and patients were encouraged. From the program, 157 patients were used in the study, and face-to-face interviews were held. Subjects were inquired about satisfaction in different areas of life, the services received, decision-making power and staff relationships, stigma perceptions, self-esteem, and mastery. The results showed that slightly over half of the patients thought mental-health patients experience stigma. In general, stigma negatively impacts the life outlook of mentally ill patients. If higher stigma was perceived, then satisfaction with life decreased. On the other hand, services had a significantly positive effect on life quality especially if they increased economic resources and patient status. As a result, the patients would feel better about themselves and have more self-confidence. It was also found

Worldwide, mental health challenges are the leading cause of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and account for 37% of healthy life years lost from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) (WHO, 2011a). Among the 43 million individuals living with a mental health challenge in the U.S., an average of 40-60% do not receive adequate mental health care, if any at all (SAMHSA, 2015). Research has shown and continues to reveal that the stigma of mental health remains one of, if not the most significant barrier to mental health treatment (Corrigan et al., 2014). The purpose of this paper will be to discuss the philosophical framework missing from mental health education, while shedding light upon how this approach could significantly impact mental health care attitudes, beliefs, access and treatment. This is an important topic because stigma not only affects how providers treat their clients, but it also impacts greater occupational, cultural and societal views on mental health challenges, and in turn, the individual suffering from mental health challenges. Additionally, continuing to neglect this issue perpetuates a façade among mental health educators and practitioners, of a unidimensional high-ground, dismissive of the fact that mental health providers are erroneous humans.

This stigmatization has the potential to negatively affect chronically ill individuals in every aspect of their lives. Nurses have the responsibility to assess themselves, increase their awareness of stigmatization, empower their patients, suggest coping strategies to their patients, educate the community, and lobby for policy changes. In the future, nurses should develop and implement educational material that can be taught at yearly staff meetings in health care agencies to reduce stigmatization perpetrated by health care providers and to promote daily self-assessments. This material should also be formulated to be taught in nursing schools, so future nurses can learn about the impacts of stigmatization before they graduate. Nursing students should also be taught the recovery model of mental illness to decrease the fear many students have when working with mentally ill patients.

It is estimated that 43.5 million Americans, adults 18 or older, live with mental illness. This number represents 18.1% of all U.S. adults (National Institute of Mental Health, 2014). Stigma toward those who are seen as different have existed for as long as civilization itself, with the stigma for mental illness being one of the most prominent and long lasting that society has had to face throughout its ages (Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012). Increased understanding and awareness for those individuals suffering from mental illness is necessary for us to overcome the impacts stigma has on our society.

Mental health—and the stigma that comes along with it—is a very important issue, one of global importance. Shah and Beinecke explain that 450 to 500 million people suffer from mental illnesses (15). Just considering the amount of people who suffer from mental illness is enough to prove that this is a global issue. Despite the large amounts of people who are affected by mental illness, only one third of countries have some sort of program to help (15). This shows the lack of concern for those who suffer from mental illness. Stereotypes affect many people, and those with mental illness are no exception. Everyone has their own preconceived perspectives and notions of mental health, and many of them are uninformed and unjustified. It is up to us to start changing our viewpoints on mental health.

There are many stigmas, or misconceptions and misperceptions in our society which need to be shattered. I believe that one of the worse possible effects of stigma is that it causes those affected by psychological disorders, or mental illness, to crawl more deeply into themselves because it provokes a sense of shame. Stigma thrusts those suffering with mental illness into a sense of isolation, social exclusion, and discrimination. “Stigma can lead to discrimination … It may be obvious or direct … Or it may be unintentional or subtle…” (Staff). Stigma is often as big as the illness itself and I confess to having been a perpetuator of this dreaded thing, although not consciously aware and without the intent of furthering the harm of someone.

There is a stigma in our country regarding mental health and its treatment. These stigma are divided between social stigma and perceived or self-stigma. Social stigma are those that society places negative feelings towards a certain group, which can lead to discrimination. Perceived or self-stigma are those internalized feelings of the mentally ill individual on how they feel society views them. Both types of stigma can lead to negative feelings of the mentally ill individual through feelings of shame, depression, hopelessness, and anxiety. Current policies on mental health are limited by federal legislation and may only address the aspect of public discrimination.

Individuals with serious mental illness are doubly affected by their disease; not only do they experience the often debilitating symptoms of their condition, but they must also endure mundane mental health stigmas and prejudices. Stigmatized attitudes are perceived to be one of the greatest impediments to living a complete and fulfilling life. Stigma has been defined as a combination of three related problems: ignorance, prejudice and discrimination (Rose, Thornicroft, Pinfold, & Kassam, 2007). Ignorance implies a lack of knowledge, prejudice entails negative attitudes, and discrimination involves exclusionary actions against people deemed to be different. Two forms of stigma are commonly distinguished in literature. Public stigma describes the attitudes of society towards people with mental illness, while self-stigma results from the internalization of prejudice by people who suffer from mental health conditions (Corrigan, Powell, & Rüsch, 2012). The World Health Organization announced that stigma was the most crucial obstacle to overcome for a community to functioning effectively and efficiently (Ontario Hospital Association, 2013).