Stigmatized Identity Essay

Barrier studies show that stigma is the fourth highest barrier to seeking help (Clement et al, 2014) proving why it is fundamental to research stigma.

Corrigan, P. a. (2002). Understanding the Impact of Stigma on people with Mental Illness. World Psychiatry , 1 (1), 16-20.

Privilege and Oppression are fueled through systems and the participation of society. Systems are “dominated, identified and centered” (90) around privileged groups, which make them superior to the non-privileged. To be privileged is to go through life “with the relative ease of being unmarked” (33), which is not the reality for the oppressed women who reside at Safe Haven. Safe Haven is full of “marked” individuals who are oppressed through systems and society. Specifically, the women I work with are individuals who have not been able to thrive in society due to the oppressed culture in which they live in. These women are shunned away from society, because it is the “privileged groups that are taken as the comparison that represents the

The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to

There is a negative stigma against the Black Community as a whole embedded into the American penal system. Stories about police officers shooting young, unarmed black men flood television screens and social media timelines while young black boys are left to wonder if they are next, left to wonder if they will be the next news headline or trending hashtag. In A Question of Freedom, a young Dwayne Betts faces the injustices of prison as a young, black male who was treated as an adult in the eyes of the law. He is forced to grow up in jail and was stripped of his childhood the minute he committed a crime. Black men are not always given a fair chance but Betts uses his time both behind bars and within the years to follow them in order to educate himself as well as others on the realities of life in prison as a growing boy.

Most people, unless they choose to be an outsider, want to be considered “cool.” Whether it’s to fit in with a peer group, or clique, or to impress someone in particular, like a member of the opposite sex, or a potential mate. Or possibly to gain something from an individual for financial or social gain (see “Scamming”).

Virginia Woolf was born January 25, 1882 to an English household in London. Her father was Sir Leslie Steven, a historian and author who was a major figure during the golden age of mountaineering; her mother Julia Prinsep Steven, an India native, nurse and also an author of the profession. With two substantial successors as her parents, Woolf was one of seven siblings granted with majestic opportunities. These opportunities included being educated by her parents. During this time girls were not allowed to go to school and many did not have the privilege of parents whom were able to instil education. Knowing this, Virginia was bound to excel in life. In fact, Woolf utilized her privileged life to her potential. She spent time in numerous

Identity is what defines us as a person. Everyone one on earth has their own unique identity. To showcase my identity, I created a collage of images and descriptive words, called an identi-kit. This identi-kit shows what I feel like is my identity to myself and the others. My identi-kit identifies me as a mixed martial artist. The identi-kit has images of a deadly shark with mixed martial arts gloves on that say mixed martial arts on the front and fight shorts with the words competitor and warrior on them. It also has descriptive words like “killer instinct” and “fight” which describe my spirit. There are three assumptions that come to question when asking about one’s identity. The first is if you were born with this

Imagine walking down a dark and dimly lit corridor. The only thing that can be heard is the sound of airplane engines shutting down. As you are walking, the sound grows dimmer and the light from the end becomes brighter and brighter, as if it was the sun. At the end of the tunnel there are two signs, one pointing towards security and another pointing towards international security. Once you enter the international security cue, you get the feeling as if everyone is watching. When it is your turn to hand the attendant your passport, he or she asks you a series of questions: “What is the purpose of your visit?” “How many days are you staying?” It is as if they are interrogating you, which they are. Immigrants have this kind of stigmatism

Our perception of our identity is constantly changing, the groups we belong to, the people we talk to and the way we connect with others help to form our identity. There is one thing we all have in common despite our individual identities, is the need to belong. There’s no obligation to belong to only one group, you can belong to many. An individual can belong to many groups, which will then create multiple identities; hence our understanding of identity is never constant. Belonging to a loving family, group of caring friends that help us to develop our own sense of self. However, belonging can have a negative side. For example our families might have an expectation of us to do something that might alter our ambitions and interfere with

Oppression signifies an authority over another group, disengaging that particular group from the rest of society. “The term oppression encapsulates the fusion of institutional and systemic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry, and social prejudice in a complex web of relationships and structures that shade most aspects of life in our society” (Bell, 1997). In one way or another every individual experiences some form of oppression, whether it be through race, sex, gender, religion, age, wealth and/or sexual orientation. These cultural minorities experience inequality where a dominant culture casts its authority and power through exercises of unjust and cruel methods; these methods have been experienced through the Women’s Movement, the

Today, a serious problem exists all over the world. Racial oppression takes place in the poorest and the richest countries, including America. Racial oppression is characterized by the majority, or the ruling race, imposing its beliefs, values, and laws on the minority, or the ruled race. In most areas, the ruling race is upper class whites that run the “system”, and have a disproportionate amount of power. In other areas, it may not be the white race, but it is still the race that is comprised of the majority, makes the laws, or has the most money. These are the keys to domination over the weaker minorities that don’t have the power to thrive under the majority’s system according to their own cultural beliefs,

In relation to the Nadeem et al. (2007) study, one’s ethnicity or race can impact ones level of awareness when it comes to mental illnesses and treatments. The same U.S born minority and immigrant women that were more likely to have stigma based fears, if received the proper information or awareness would have been more inclined to seek treatment. If this population of women would have never received or sought out treatment, the likelihood of these women obtaining the accurate information to eliminate stigma based fears would have been lower. Throughout the research on stigma based fears associated with mental health illnesses ,the subcategories addressed earlier are all interconnected and could contribute to why individuals don't seek out

The main purpose of this study is to explore how individuals who endure multiple labels and identities of oppression including being homeless, an immigrant, a racialized minority, and having a mental illness, navigate stigma and discrimination, and what affects their capacity to do so. Specifically, this study addresses three research questions:

A recurring theme has emerged from the texts and the film, that social stigma towards mental illness is rampant and destructive. There is a large discrepancy in the society of today in that we so readily accept illnesses of the body that can be explained and treated by physical means, however, when it comes to an illness of the mind we are so quick to claim lunacy to explain what we do not understand. This results in the overwhelming consensus that an individual with a mental illness would “rather have something wrong with [their] body than something wrong with [their] head” in order to be accepted by the society in which they live. As the mental illness of the individual is reliant on their reactions to social stimuli, often much of the social stigma that is created is due to an unusual or abnormal response. For example, Christopher Boone, the main character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, does not