A father walks out of the building his son at his side. His seven year old son was just diagnosed with schizophrenia. The father starts to think about all the schizophrenics he’s seen on the news, on the streets, in books. They’re violent. They’ll kill their own family. They’re insane. They’re dangerous, unpredictable. They’re out of control. The father has heard about the medications, the side effects, the horror of it. He looks at his son and can’t believe his little boy is now a schizophrenic. His sadness however is replaced. Replaced by a very different emotion. It is replaced with shame. Deep shame. Is this his fault? Did he make his son like this? What will people think? Knowing that his son is a lunatic? The father wonders. Would it
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“Stigma can lead to discrimination. Discrimination may be obvious and direct, such as someone making a negative remark about your mental illness or your treatment. Or it may be unintentional or subtle, such as someone avoiding you because the person assumes you could be unstable, violent or dangerous due to your mental health condition”(Mental health: Overcoming the stigma of mental illness). There are other effects as well. Health insurance that doesn't adequately cover the treatment of the illness is one. “In 1999 the U.S. Surgeon General labeled stigma as perhaps the biggest barrier to mental health care; this stigma manifests particularly in a phenomenon known as social distancing, whereby people with mental issues are more isolated from others. Eradicating the stigma and social distancing of people with mental illness must be a top public health priority in order to improve worldwide mental health and reduce economic burden”(The Stigma of Mental Illness Is Making Us Sicker). “This stigma doesn’t just worsen outcomes on a personal level, but also complicates the care and resources available to people with mental illness. In its “Attitudes Towards Mental Illness”report, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted that stigma can result in a lower prioritization of public resources and poorer quality of care. One research review of 22 studies that focused on barriers to care and mental illness determined that stigma and embarrassment were the top reasons why people with mental illness did not engage in medication adherence. The effects of stigma work both ways – mental health conditions are not typically screened in most health care settings, losing an important opportunity for care Further, the discrepancy between the cost of mental health disorders as compared to the funding of research is striking, and is believed to be caused by the stigma associated with mental health issues. For example, in the United
“Stigma can lead to discrimination. Discrimination may be obvious and direct, such as someone making a negative remark about your mental illness or your treatment. Or it may be unintentional or subtle, such as someone avoiding you because the person assumes you could be unstable, violent or dangerous due to your mental health condition”(Mental health: Overcoming the stigma of mental illness). There are other effects as well. Health insurance that doesn't adequately cover the treatment of the illness is one. “In 1999 the U.S. Surgeon General labeled stigma as perhaps the biggest barrier to mental health care; this stigma manifests particularly in a phenomenon known as social distancing, whereby people with mental issues are more isolated from others. Eradicating the stigma and social distancing of people with mental illness must be a top public health priority in order to improve worldwide mental health and reduce economic burden”(The Stigma of Mental Illness Is Making Us Sicker). “This stigma doesn’t just worsen outcomes on a personal level, but also complicates the care and resources available to people with mental illness. In its “Attitudes Towards Mental Illness”report, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted that stigma can result in a lower prioritization of public resources and poorer quality of care. One research review of 22 studies that focused on barriers to care and mental illness determined that stigma and embarrassment were the top reasons why people with mental illness did not engage in medication adherence. The effects of stigma work both ways – mental health conditions are not typically screened in most health care settings, losing an important opportunity for care Further, the discrepancy between the cost of mental health disorders as compared to the funding of research is striking, and is believed to be caused by the stigma associated with mental health issues. For example, in the United