The Social Marginalization of People Living with a Mentally Ill Label–Family, Friends, and Work (original) (raw)
Related papers
2014
Persons with mental disorders often experience stigmatization. There is a number of social factors that may affect the process of recovery and at the same time, in certain circumstances, could be a source of stigma. Mentally ill may find strength in themselves to fight against the disease or the opposite-can internalize the negative attitudes of the society and become self-stigmatized. The patient's family, on the one hand, is often the only source of social support, on the other hand, can experience a destructive influence of courtesy-stigma. Mentally ill have to face social reluctance which is reinforced by stereotypical media coverage of mental disorders. The social network of patients is poor and often limited to a family system. Negative views about persons diagnosed with mental illness are most visible in the labour market. Patients experience many types of discrimination at work, have lower employment rates and lower mean wages than healthy ones. Structural discrimination is a form of stigma which is revealed in underfunded and inefficient system of mental health care. All the social factors mentioned above are necessary for recovery (positive stimulation of functioning), but can also increase stigma and become a significant barrier in the recovery of psychiatric patients. This paper highlights the complex and ambiguous nature of the relationship between social factors and the recovery of the mentally ill basing on the data from the literature.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2004
This paper provides a new way of conceptualizing the career of the mentally ill. Most persons who experience an episode of a serious mental disturbance lead a normal life, while a few persons lead lifetimes that revolve around their mental disorders. The processes leading to either result can only be understood by integrating the traditional labeling and psychiatric perspectives with lay understandings of the concepts of "mental illness" and "nervous breakdowns." A selection of key concepts from these perspectives leads to a better understanding of the different paths persons take as they move through the pre-patient, inpatient, and post-patient phases of the "career of the mentally ill." This perspective makes understandable a number of counterintuitive relationships. For example, it explains why most hospitalized mental patients (1) have a negative stereotype of the "mentally ill," (2) do not perceive themselves as "mentally ill, yet (3) perceive themselves as benefiting from treatment, and (4) do not progress into a career of secondary deviance.
Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 2017
Background: According to the World Health Organization, one in four people experience a psychiatric disorder throughout his/her life. For centuries, psychiatric patients have been sent to psychiatric hospitals that often stigmatized and located out of the community. Moreover, these patients are stigmatized by the hospital staff because they are not aware of patients' experiences in this domain. This humiliating attitude leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and frustration, and prevents patients from seeking treatment. Aim: This study aimed to explain the lived experiences of patients with psychiatric disorders on the consequences of stigma in mental health centers. Methods: This hermeneutic phenomenological study is a part of a larger study undertaken for partial fulfillment of the requirement for PhD dissertation in nursing. The main study was conducted on 12 psychiatric patients during 2014-2015. They were selected based on purposeful sampling method. Data were collected using unstructured interviews and analyzed by an interpretative method. Results: Psychiatric hospital as an unsafe place is one of the main themes of the phenomenon under study in the original project. It consists of two sub-themes (i.e., an egregious hospital and cold-hearted white collars) each of which is supported by a number of common meanings. Implications for Practice: The results of this study can shape the interventions and policies to combat and prevent the spread of stigma through health centers about people with psychiatric disorders.
Consequences of Stigma in the Life of People with Mental Disorders: A Qualitative Research
Background: The stigma of mental disorder has destructive impacts on emotions, feelings, personal relationships, parenting, education, occupation, and house management of people with mental disorders. Understanding and awareness of the stigma consequences are important for the establishment and development of constructive relationships with people suffering from mental disorders as well as their care and treatment. This qualitative research aimed to explain the attitudes of people with mental disorder, the treatment team, and the patients’ families towards the consequences of stigma in the life of people with mental disorder. Methods: This study was conducted using a qualitative approach and content analysis method. Sixteen people (patients with mental disorder, their family members, psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse, social worker, legal expert) were selected from 3 psychiatric centers in Tehran by using targeted sampling method and were interviewed using semi-structured interviews until the data were saturated. Results: Content analysis of the interviews showed that people with mental disorder experience the consequences of stigma as fear of stigma, self-blame, searching for a cause for the disorder, denial, avoiding psychiatric treatment, rejection, discrimination, and relapse. Conclusion: The findings of this research can help the psychiatric team to make effective and targeted treatment decisions. Performing interventions to reduce stigma of mental disorder in society seems to be necessary.