Stigma - KTF Platform

Stigma

There is a great chance for us or people around us to experience the disturbance that mental illness brings along. Even though mental illness is common among people, there are still a lot of misunderstandings, stereotypes, biases, or even discrimination against mental illness and people with mental illness in society.

Different kinds of stigma

There are different kinds of stigma, and below are the three kinds of stigma we are going to talk about, including:

1.Public stigma
(Social stigma)

E.g. Labels (e.g. they all have tendency towards violence), negative feelings (e.g. scared), or even discriminatory actions (e.g. refusing to employ them) towards people with mental illness in society.

2.Self-stigma
(Self-stigma/
Internalized stigma)

People who are being labeled and discriminated against internalize the public stigma. For example, people with mental illness identify with the negative knowledge, behaviors, and emotions the society has for them, therefore resulting in a loss of self-confidence.

3.Affiliate stigma
(Affiliate stigma)

Friends and family members that are closed to people who are being stigmatized (e.g. people in recovery) may be affected by public stigma as well. This stigma they experienced is affiliate stigma - they feel down and helpless because of their relationship with people who are being stigmatized and the negative influence they experience.

Public attitude and situation in reality?

Studies have shown that public attitude towards people in recovery is affirmative and accepting. For example, 83.8% of respondents believed that discriminating and isolating people with mental illness would adversely affect their recovery (Tsang et al., 2003) and 83.9% of the respondents thought that they accept people with mental illness (Mak & Chong ,2011).

Public attitude is affirmative and accepting

The public resistance in reality

The general public resists people with mental illness in reality, for example, a number of studies have shown that about 40% of respondents were against building recovery facilities in their neighborhood (Chou et al., 1996; Chou & Mak, 1998; Lau & Cheung, 1999; Tsang et al., 2003).

Reasons include the fact that people were worried that people with mental illness might cause harm to others and were afraid to stay alone with people who are living with mental illness (Mak & Chong ,2011). These negative feelings stem from the public stigma the society and people hold against mental illness.

Public stigma against people with mental illness also affects their opportunity in employment. Study has revealed that 757 mental health service users indicated that it was difficulty to get a job, they were discriminated by family members and friends, and were treated poorly by mental health professionals (Lee, Chiu, & Ching, 2003).

According to a baseline survey about public attitude towards people with disability done by the Equal Opportunities Commission in 2011, over half of the respondents did not want to live in the same community with people with mental illness. These propel people with mental illness to cover up the disturbance they are experiencing or to delay treatment, which in turn make the problem worse.

Effect of stigma

Stigma segregates people

A lot of people with mental illness dare not tell others about their problems or situations as they are afraid of receiving negative responses. Even if they open up, most are misunderstood by their family, or avoided by friends, colleagues or neighbors.

Stigma keeps people away from their daily activities

Performing daily activities, such as shopping, going to parties, becomes difficult for people with mental illness. A lot of people with mental illness have the experience of being rejected by insurance companies or financial institutes, making it hard for them to travel to other countries, possess their own properties, or start their own business.

Stigma causes people to lose their job

A lot of people with mental illness are motivated to work, however they are often not considered, fired, or forced to resign from their positions. There are also a lot of them who do not search for a job since they are afraid to receive unfair treatment.

Stigma hinders help seeking

We often tend to cover up when we first come across mental disturbance. Instead of looking for professional help as early as possible, we usually only do so when we are in severe conditions.

Stigma has negative impact on physical health

People with mental illness usually have worse health condition and are often being misdiagnosed for their physical problem. According to a British national stigma reduction campaign “Time to Change”, people with mental illness has a 10-years shorter lifespan compared to average.

*Source： Time to Change
http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/what-is-stigma

Fighting stigma

Stigma against people in recovery adversely affects recovery and introduces stress and psychological disturbance to their family. Below are the ways to fight different kinds of stigma:

1. We should aim at media which are spreading stigma to fight public stigma. For example, we should invite people with mental illness to share or organize stigma reduction/anti-discrimination campaign in schools and firms. In the past, there were quite a number of peer support workers organizing sharing about recovery in primary schools, universities, and social welfare institutions to enhance the level of acceptance of the public to people in recovery and to reduce stigma. In addition, we can also add in some anti-discrimination elements in mental health professionals training.

2. People with mental illness need to have a vision towards recovery and a belief that they can have a promising and meaningful life to fight self-stigma. Apart from that, we can also empower them to regain autonomy and advocate for deserved rights. Peer-led services can also fight self-stigma.

3. People with mental illness and their family members should share the same vision over recovery to fight affiliate stigma. Moreover, participating in mental health education program can effectively strengthen the ability of family members and friends around to cater to their own needs, while participating in empowerment and recovery program can effectively support the recovery process of people in recovery.