~~~Caged ~~~
Gorillas Fighting 4 Change
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Overcoming Mental Health Stigmas ~
Reading more
about mental illnesses in the United States has prompted me to write about one
of the most important problems existing today in our civilized society. According
to an article written on the Treatment Advocacy Center website stigmas impact
the seriously mentally ill persons (SMI) more than people realize. It is
important to point out that these stigmas impacts the individual’s confidence,
self-esteem, hope and realization that they are basically cast aways due to
having mental disabilities that many people just don’t take the time to understand
and deal with appropriately.
Overcoming Mental Health Stigmas Pescosolido BA, Martin JK, Long
JS, Medina TR, Phelan JC, Link BG. “A disease like any other”? A decade of
change in public reactions to schizophrenia, depression, and alcohol
dependence. American Journal of Psychiatry 2010;167:1321–1330.
Because of
unwarranted stigmas, society has impacted the world of those SMI persons in a
manner none would understand unless exposed to their difficulties and barriers.
There are two dominant factors that have caused more grief than anything else
in my opinion. The first factor the gross misunderstandings of these SMI
persons and the second being this misunderstanding conveying the wrongful attitudes
that often results in the criminalization of these SMI persons in our
communities and eventually our jails and prisons.
Stigmas are
abundant for those individuals that have severe psychological problems or
disorders. Because of wrongful inferences and misunderstandings these people
are denied normal social opportunities that range from housing, employment,
relationships and persistent discrimination. The sad fact is that these stigmas
are increasing rather than decreasing over the last decades as more media
coverage is now focused on the mentally ill involved in mass shootings or other
tragedies.
Since the
Newtown CT mass school shooting there has been more emphasis on the mentally
ill and gun control but nothing has been done to correct or improve these
stigma related problems, in fact, they have been exponentially annoyed with the
mentally ill persons since the shooting as society is lumping every SMI person
into one group – a group of violent people. This is a most ridiculous concept and is very much
off the scale from telling the truth
Regardless we as
a society must admit that we are wrong and that in order to reduce violence we
must increase treatment for those seriously mentally ill persons within our
communities. Dealing with the perception [an erred one at that] that
individuals with mental illness are dangerous we must be willing to work on
reducing these dangers by increasing the funding and resources needed to bring
this problem within parameters that are socially acceptable and reduce stigmas
as well as these false perceptions that all mentally ill persons are dangerous
and violent.
Government
officials, mental health providers and advocates need to come together and
begin national awareness campaigns designed to educate the public that SMI
persons are not necessarily dangerous and begin this anti-stigma campaign
immediately. At the same time find alternatives to criminalization these
persons with mental disabilities and find the appropriate resources in our
community to assist those with disabilities to become better neighbors and
members of our society. It is also important that every time there is an
incident where a violent act has been committed by a mentally ill person, the
media takes the time to clarify the fact that not all seriously mentally ill
persons are dangerous or violent.
Sources:
Phelan JC, Link BG, Stueve A, Pescosolido
BA. Public conceptions of mental illness in 1950 and 1996: what is mental
illness and is it to be feared? Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2000;41:188–207.
US Department of Health and Human Services. Mental Health: A Report
of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: US 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.
Schizophrenics battle stigma, myths in addition to
disease. USA Today, June 8, 2008.
Jarvik E. Mental health clients fear growing stigma. The
Deseret News [Salt Lake City, Utah], April 24, 1999.
Pescosolido BA, Monahan J, Link BG et al. The public’s
view of the competence, dangerousness, and need for legal coercion of persons
with mental health problems. American Journal of Public Health
1999;89:1339–1345.
Thornton JA, Wahl OF. Impact of a newspaper article on
attitudes toward mental illness. Journal of Community Psychology 1996;24:17–24.
Angermeyer MC, Matschinger H. Violent attacks on
public figures by persons suffering from psychiatric disorders: their effect on
the social distance towards the mentally ill. European Archives of
Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 1995;245:159–164.
Fraser ME. Educating the public about mental illness:
what will it take to get the job done? Innovations and Research 1994;3:29–31.
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