the world today. Even though around 1 in every 4 people, aged 18 or older, suffer from a
diagnosable mental illness, most of the population still view these people with distrust and even
worse, disgust. In order to stop this stigma we must first admit that there is one and see the full
extent of it. In doing this we find ways to address the problem and educate the population in
ways that will adapt their view.
Statement of the Problem
“Stigma tragically deprives people of their dignity and interferes with their full
participation in society.” (Satcher, 2000) said the surgeon general in 1999. What he means by
this is that stigma holds …show more content…
This takes a good portion of our society and puts them in an inaccessible state
where they cannot contribute many of the brilliant things they have to offer. Further presence
will also bring about discrimination in the workforce. Which is why research into the exact level
of stigma that is out there in each gender and ethnicity will help us find “...the mechanisms that
lead from stigmatization to harmful consequences.”(Link, 2004) and how to address them. There
is also the issue of many people avoiding health professionals through fear of a mental health
diagnoses caused by stigma and self-stigmas. This creates an issue of many people suffering in
silence. Many cultures have different views on mental illness, which is why another goal of this
research is to see how different demographics view mental illness, not usually tested in most
stigma research.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to find the root of stigma by seeing what the exactly the
stigmas are and how intense they are in varying demographics.
Research …show more content…
A high overall percentage of people who believe mental illness is associated with
violence.
3. A majority of each population will hold a negative stigma/ stereotype towards those
who have a mental illness.
Method
Participants
The population must be broken up into different ethnicity groups first and then broken up
within those groups into gender, and lastly age. This method of sampling is called stratified
sampling in which a population is broken up into smaller groups with alike characteristics.
Another variation of this research could be done by further separating groups based on financial
status. For the purpose of this particular essay the population used will be from the U.S.A, but
other versions of this research could use populations from around the world to stand as a better
representation.
Research Design
The best possible way to conduct this study, which relies heavily on the population’s
personal views, is done through a survey. A survey allows for a direct question answer response
over the opinions people have towards mental illness. The survey will be administered through a
simple electronic survey which will ask a series of questions on a scale of one through