General Public Attitude

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Effect of the General Public’s Attitude on Individuals with Mental Illnesses
Mental illness has been on the media a lot in the past years. With the raise in anxiety and depression rates and crimes that are being blamed on it has been on everyone minds lately. But how does this media coverage affect those who suffer from mental illnesses. In the book Descartes’ Error the author Antonio Damasio speaks for a bit about the difference between diseases of the brain and of the mind. He states “the distinction between diseases of “brain” and “mind” between “neurological” problems and “psychological” ones, is an unfortunate cultural inheritance that permeates society and medicine. It reflects a basic ignorance of the relation between brain and mind. …show more content…
They struggle with the symptoms of their disease. Also they struggle with how the people around them react to their disease. The general public’s attitude can very easily negative affect this suffers. They can suffer from self-stigma, economical problems and poor social relationships.
People suffering from mental illnesses often struggle with self-stigma issues. When it comes to mental illness it seems that public stigma and self-stigma go hand in hand. According to Patrick W. Corrigan and Amy C. Watson (2002) public stigma is the reaction that the general population has to people with mental illness. While self-stigma is the prejudice which people with mental illness turn against themselves. Stigma has three main components that affect the population that suffers from mental illness: stereotypes, prejudice and …show more content…
The biggest reason this occurs is because this population finds it much harder to find and keep jobs due to stereotypes about their disease. “The public stereotype of dangerousness of persons with mental disorders that involve psychosis has increased over the past 50 years” (Stuber, Rocha, Christian, & Link 2014). This causes a want for social distance from these individuals. This want makes people not want to hire such people because they do not want to have to work along side of them. The implications that patients with mental diseases are subjected cause prejudice and discrimination in employment, housing, and medical care. Such negative attitudes may even influence the public’s decisions about funding for mental health services (Stuber

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