Hannah Edwards

UWRT 1102-023

Spillane

26 October 2017

Mental Health Stigma

When I initially started this paper I set out to answer how does mental health stigma

impact those who have a mental illness?. As someone who knows several people who have a

mental illness, I wanted to know how others opinions of their mental illness has shaped how

they think about it. As I gathered information though, it became more and more clear to me that

it impacts them negatively. Obviously having a bunch of false stereotypes and beliefs

surrounding you cant be a positive influence. So, this led to me having to take a step back and

reevaluate what I was going to do with all of this research I had gathered. While I still have

examples of how mental health stigma impacts people who suffer from a mental illness, I also

have information on how stigmas are formed and what exactly makes them harmful. I didnt

have a basis for an argumentative essay, but I could write about my research, what Ive come to

learn about stigma and the questions I still have. So, while I still have examples of how mental

health stigma impacts people who suffer from a mental illness, I also have information on how

stigmas are formed and what exactly makes them harmful.

When beginning my research, I wanted to start with scholarly resources. I wanted to see

what the academic worlds opinion was on mental health stigma. I figured they would have

research and statistics to help back up any claims that they would make. I got a lot of useful

information from Patrick Corrigans articles, the main one being how he defines stigma, (1)

it
is fundamentally a label of an outgroup; (2) labeled differences are negative; (3) differences

separate us from them; and (4) label and separation lead to status loss and discrimination (60). I

agree with this because if you think of any stereotype it is usually about a minority group, with

characteristics that are labeled as bad which all leads to separating them from the rest of

society through discrimination. So, for example, people who have schizophrenia are often

labeled as dangerous, mostly because of cases that have become popular in the media, and are

then treated hostilely and isolated from the rest of society. There are other examples of stigma as

well, as stated by psychologist Jake Jackson, Similar to the nave attitudes denialism, the

romantic attitude attempts to counteract and fill depressions depths with shallow moralist

distractions, meaning that romanticizing a mental illness can be just as harmful as villainizing it

(367). People also have the misconception that mental illnesses, such as depression, are tied to

intelligence and that can lead to a feeling that one needs to succeed (Jackson 367). So, how do

we avoid stereotypes? Simple answer: we dont. Corrigan goes on in his article and states,

Stereotypes are unavoidable; they are learned as part of aging in a culture; , leading me to

believe that while stereotypes are inevitable, we dont always have to act on in (61). In fact,

when a stereotype or stigma is acted on that is when it becomes discrimination. Discrimination

severely impacts those with a mental illness because it leads to things like pity, rejection and

ridicule from their peers which in turn can lead to self-stigma (Zhao). Wenfeng Zhao goes on to

state that about one in eight students admitted they would not pursue treatmentfor fear of

being stigmatized by their peers. Untreated mental illness can lead to serious repercussions and

negative behaviors. So, all of my scholarly research led me to believe that stigma is a negative

thought that, when acted on can lead to discriminating and self-stigmatizing behaviors that can

be negative to those who suffer from mental illnesses. But, it can also be harmful to those who
dont have mental illnesses because it can perpetuate stigmatized ideas and lead to more

uneducated beliefs. This led me to want to discover what those who didnt have a PhD in

psychology had to say about mental health stigma.

Popular sources are sources that are more likely to be seen by the public. This made me a

bit more curious to see what they had to say. Would their articles warn against mental health

stigma, or were their articles the reason stigmas are so popular? One article, Lets Call Mental

Health Stigma What It Really Is: Discrimination. By Lindsay Holmes, had similar viewpoints

as the scholarly articles. However, Holmes provided something in her article that the others had

not, which was possible solutions to mental health stigma and discrimination. That means more

mental health training for first responders, more policies that help people with mental

illnessmore workplace acceptance and initiatives that support individuals dealing with a

psychological issue (Holmes). Would providing more education lead to a better understanding

of mental illness? This is an interesting perspective that the other articles lacked. While the

scholarly articles were more clinical and professional sounding, the popular articles helped

provide a more human perspective to the conversation. Especially the article by Nikki

Llewellyn, because it was her own personal testimony of her own experiences with stigma. I'd

seen people at school who were shunned because they were "weird", and I was fiercely

determined not to let that happen to me, this shows how others discriminatory behavior

affected Nikki and she later goes on to state that she would pretend that everything was alright

and then let her mental illness get progressively worst all because she was afraid that her peers

would judge and isolate her (Llewellyn). Popular articles provided the other half of the picture of

my research, it was more fleshed out with personal experiences where scholarly articles were full
of facts. These two different types of research helped me to flesh out my own ideas and opinions

on mental health stigma and why it is an important topic.

So why is mental health stigma an important topic to learn about? A lot of people have

mental illnesses and if they dont they at least know someone who has one. Knowing the

judgement they face every day can help lead us to be more considerate and compassionate to one

another, and maybe even help people with mental illnesses learn to cope with their illnesses

faster. Corrigan stated that stereotypes are learned as part of our culture, so that means other

behaviors are learned too, right? So if we make compassion for people with mental illness the

norm instead of judgement, would this lead to a society that is more understanding? If

stereotypes are unavoidable, then maybe we shouldnt get rid of them, but instead maybe we

could change them from a negative to a positive? Or, if we cant change them at least start acting

on those thoughts less. These are all probably idealized ideas, but they could be possible.

Through all of my research, Ive come to the idea that stigma is just a result of ignorance.

Judging something that we dont understand. So maybe the solution lies in trying to educate what

mental health stigma is and the correct ways to help someone who has a mental illness.

Through all of my research I wanted to understand how mental health stigma impacted

those with a mental illness. I quickly discovered that that was a question with a definite answer,

but I didnt want my research to go to waste. So instead I wanted to write an essay about my

discoveries and my final thoughts on everything I had learned. While some may not think this is

an important topic, Id have to disagree. Mental illness cases are growing more and more every

day and stigmas along with it. I feel we as a society need to stop discriminating and start helping

one another. It would help those with a mental illness feel more accepted and those without a

mental illness would be a bit more understanding and knowledgeable.

 Works Cited

Corrigan, Patrick, et al. "Developing a Research Agenda for Understanding the Stigma of

Addictions Part I: Lessons from the Mental Health Stigma Literature." American Journal

on Addictions, vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 59-66. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/ajad.12458.

Holmes, Lindsay. Let's Call Mental Health Stigma What It Really Is: Discrimination. The

Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Feb. 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mental-health-

discrimination_us_57e55d07e4b0e28b2b53a896.

Jackson, Jake. "Patronizing Depression: Epistemic Injustice, Stigmatizing Attitudes, and the

Need for Empathy." Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 48, no. 3, Sept. 2017, pp. 359-376.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/josp.12194.

Llewellyn, Nikki. Ten Years of Progress: Nikki's Time to Change Story. Time To Change,

TimeToChange, 9 Oct. 2017, www.time-to-change.org.uk/blog/ten-years-progress-

nikkis-time-change-story.

How Stigma Interferes With Mental Healthcare: An Expert Interview With Patrick W.

Corrigan, PsyD. Medscape Log In, Medscape, 9 Dec. 2004,

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/494548.

Zhao, Wenfeng, et al. "Attachment Style, Relationship Factors, and Mental Health Stigma

among Adolescents." Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue Canadienne Des

Sciences Du Comportement, vol. 47, no. 4, Oct. 2015, pp. 263-271. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1037/cbs0000018.