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The face of Stigma in Mental health



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 and in the process they “other” people who are affected by mental health challenges, resulting in labelling and stigmatisation.


Words 


Stigma in mental health can also be evident through labels or  words that ostracise people who have mental health challenges. People tend to associate mental health challenges with craziness or madness. Therefore people who have mental health challenges and those who are consulting mental health professionals are sometimes labelled as “crazy” or  “mad” or “nut cases”. These words have a sarcastic, belittling and a judgmental tone. 


BEHAVIOUR 


Ignorance 


Labelling often reflects one’s ignorance, related to lack of interest in learning and understanding mental health and illness. 


Avoidance


Sometimes when people become aware of one’s mental illness they tend to avoid the person. This is due feeling ill-equipped to support them. The avoidance could sometimes be related to prevention of stigma by association. 


Overprotection


Families, friends and relatives of people who have mental health challenges sometimes block or prevent them from engaging in certain activities. Although this may come from a good place, it can contribute to the the other person feeling patronised and incapacitated. They may also believe that they are not trusted enough to take care of themselves and to take control of their lives.


In the next article we discuss ways to overcome mental health stigma. 


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