Phrenic Disorders: A Case Study

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.

From the survey results concluded that the public has a better understanding of mental illness however, the amount of stigmatization towards people with mental illnesses has not been reduced significantly. The survey results from 2006 show that the public endorses medical care for people who have mental illnesses, it was felt both general health care and specialty mental health care were deserved accessible to people with mental illnesses. However, the percentage of people who felt forced hospitalization was the best treatment for people with schizophrenia was greatly increased. A majority of the people surveyed still expressed unwillingness to interact socially with a person who has a mental illness, in fact even more of the participants were unwilling to have a person with schizophrenia as a neighbor in 2006 compared to the 1996 survey results. Furthermore, it was commonly felt that people with schizophrenia and alcoholism would act violent towards the

The diagnostic label is the most positive outcome of the Rosenhan’s study because it advanced treatment patients and helped to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health. Labels started being handled more carefully so that a patient is not just seen as their diagnosis, the patients can receive better care with an unbiased opinion toward their actions and past. The psychiatric diagnostic label also became apart of Dr. O.F. Wahl’s research about the effect of the stigma surrounding mental health. This research showed the detrimental results of stigma “urged public education as a means of reducing stigma.” (Hock,

Mental Illness, that name conjures up a vast array of frightening images in the minds of the general public and media; an unfair image that is stigmatizing for the sufferer. The stigma is also pervasive in the mental health field, where patients who receive treatment are sometimes treated unfairly by the practitioners, who are supposed to help them in the first place. This is what my paper will discuss, the effects of stigma and labeling on patients and their families. I have culled many sources from scholarly papers, that back up my claim. I will describe what I thought of about the articles and how they pertain to the main points I am trying to make.

al, 2015; Pearl et. al, 2017). Because of this, it is important that future studies are conducted that investigate the prevalence of the mental health stigma in the United States so that nation-wide programs may be directed to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. Enumerating on the negative effects of the mental illness stigma is relatively easy given the fact that there is considerable research on the subject. For example, Corrigan (2004) notes that mental health stigma is linked to decreased access to mental health care in those who need it, which in turn exacerbates their situation and further perpetuates the idea that lack of proper mental health care is acceptable. According to Oexle et. al (2015), mental illness stigma is linked to a higher risk for suicidal ideation and feelings of hopelessness in those with mental health problems, which results in an increased risk of suicide. In addition, the effects of the stigma can be seen throughout the therapeutic process. As Pearl et. al note (2017), increased internalized stigma is associated with worse mental health condition, and decreased stigma results in decreased symptomatic severity in those with mental health issues. This means that if someone feels highly stigmatized throughout the treatment process that they will likely recover more slowly than those who feels less stigmatized. This again proves why it is important to study which populations suffer the most from mental health stigmatization so that it can be properly addresses in hopes of reducing the countless negative effects associated with

Families are often the main support system for people affected by mental illness. If a

In conclusion, stigmatization of mental illness is a serious issue, but it will be solved through awareness. We should care about this problem as a society because it affects a lot of people and is an ongoing problem. Also, giving this problem our attention works to ensure the mentally ill have an equal chance to take part in society. If we don’t draw our eyes to the stigma around emotional disorders, we are deeming it okay to discriminate against others. For these reasons, youths should not have to deal with marks of disgrace around their mental health

This brings out the struggles of the family members who become caregivers to the mentally ill. "Anger, guilt, shame and other negative emotions- reinforced by society's continual stigma about mental illness may hobble families' abilities to support patients." NAMI has the answer to help those caregivers, a free twelve-week program called, Family to Family Education Program. Dr. Joyce Burland developed this program after she had an experience with a mentally ill family member. “ A core concept of the course is that severe mental illness is traumatic for both the patient and the family.” NAMI has offered this program going on twenty years now and has gone through the “gold standard” medical research and has been found to “significantly improves family members’ ability to cope by increasing their knowledge about and acceptance of mental illness.”

with both mental concerns and conditions, like disabilities. Society disregards these matters as individual faults and this misconception has become a public health issue, affecting the perspective and outreach of patients. Public health efforts seek to educate and manage aspects (such as: thoughts, feelings and behaviors) in order to decrease the prevalence of anxiety and depression that enties with stigma and medical conditions (Blumenthal, 2012).

Stigma has been said to be “a feeling of being negatively differentiated owing to a particular condition, group membership or state in life”(Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012, p. 458). There are typically two types of mental illness stigma that are discussed. Public stigma, also known as societal stigma, is the stigma associated with the prejudicial attitudes the public holds towards those people who suffer from mental illness (Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012; Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan & Kubiak, 2003). Self-stigma, also known as internalized stigma, is the loss of self-esteem, withdrawal, and personal shame that some with mental illness will experience. Self-stigma is usually developed when those who suffer from mental illness associate the negative stereotypes the public holds with themselves (Chronister, Chou, & Lieo, 2013; Corrigan et al., 2003).

Stigma can be defined as a mark of shame or ignominy that sets individuals apart from others. Goffman notes “Society establishes the means of categorizing persons and the complement of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories”. (Goffman) Given, when a person is labeled by said illness, disorder, or deviancy they are seen as a part of a stereotyped group and as a result are stigmatized by the “normals”. Moreover, the routines of social interactions in society allow us to create normative expectations and demands for the way ones in said society are expected to

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 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.

Unfortunately, stigmatized attitudes remain ever-present in societal interactions. This holds true despite many of the individuals perpetuating the stigma either personally knowing people with mental illness, including a family member, or having adequate knowledge of mental health conditions. Loved ones may express stigmatized attitudes to