Dr Sibu Qhogwana

Stigma in mental health reflects our beliefs, attitudes and thoughts about mental illness. These manifest through our behaviour towards people with mental health challenges and the language we use to describe their experiences. THOUGHTS AND LANGUAGE Negative assumptions   People who stigmatise others often hold negative assumptions about those they stigmatise. Such assumptions are often baseless and are driven by a lack of understanding of the person and their situation. The person is often blamed  for their condition through using  statements like  “depression is for weak people” or “depression indicates lack of faith” and “African people don’t get depressed”. All these assumptions leave people feeling inferior and put an extra burden on them.  A belief of Immunity  People who have not experienced mental health challenges may believe that they are immune from such.  As a result they distance themselves from people with mental health challenges an...

Stigma is when we blame, judge, prejudice and discriminate people because of characteristics that they have or situations that they are going through. People are often stigmatised for situations that they already find challenging to deal with and sometimes it is situations they cannot change or have temporarily lost control over (i.e. mental health diagnosis like depression, diagnosis of HIV and people living with disabilities). So when we stigmatise people we place an extra burden on their already difficult journey. The following points highlight the impact of stigma on people. 1. Impact on mental health  Stigma results in feelings of isolation, rejection and guilt for people and it can contribute to the development or worsening of mental health challenges like depression and anxiety. 2. Obstacle in help-seeking  When we stigmatise people, it becomes more challenging for them to openly seek help because they fear judgement. As a result they either do not seek help at all or i...