Stigma Busting
MHAC EDUCATES THE PUBLIC ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS
According to the Surgeon General, “Mental illness is the term that refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders. Mental disorders are health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning. Alzheimer’s disease exemplifies a mental disorder largely marked by alterations in thinking (especially forgetting). Depression exemplifies a mental disorder largely marked by alterations in mood. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder exemplifies a mental disorder largely marked by alterations in behavior (overactivity) and/or thinking (inability to concentrate). Alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior contribute to a host of problems—patient distress, impaired functioning, or heightened risk of death, pain, disability, or loss of freedom.”
STIGMA KEEPS PEOPLE FROM GETTING CARE
“Stigmatization of people with mental disorders has persisted throughout history. It is manifested by bias, distrust, stereotyping, fear, embarrassment, anger, and/or avoidance. Stigma leads others to avoid living, socializing or working with, renting to, or employing people with mental disorders, especially severe disorders such as schizophrenia (Penn & Martin, 1998; Corrigan & Penn, 1999). It reduces patients’ access to resources and opportunities (e.g., housing, jobs) and leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking, and wanting to pay for, care. In its most overt and egregious form, stigma results in outright discrimination and abuse. More tragically, it deprives people of their dignity and interferes with their full participation in society.”
Now that more information about mental disorders is getting into the mainstream of society, you might think that the stigma about mental illness would fade. Sadly, this is not yet the case.
REAL LIVES FROM MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA
MHA invites people to share their story; understand the fact from the fiction about mental illnesses. See all the info at Real Lives.WE CAN BRING CHANGE 2 MIND
New efforts to explain mental illness and bring education to new places uses the power of media and the internet to create better understandings of the disabilities mental illness can bring about. Check them out at bringchange2mind.
For the full report of the Surgeon General, see U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General—Executive Summary. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, 1999. Or visit: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html
