Where Does Stigmatization Come From?
“That’s crazy.”
“He’s insane.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
These phrases are commonplace and demonstrate the pervasiveness of stigmatization of people with mental health conditions. But stigmatization is not just name-calling – it’s also exclusion and discrimination. And when stigmatization is internalized, it can cause a person with a mental health condition to have feelings of shame and self-disgust.
For our latest issue of Focal Point, we decided to conduct some informal research of our about youth’s and caregiver’s experiences of stigmatization. Below are some of our findings (click here to read the whole article).
Youth Survey
We created one survey for young people with emotional or mental health conditions. The large majority of these young people reported experiencing stigmatization – 86% responded that there were times when people treated them negatively or unfairly because of their emotional or mental health condition. When asked who treated them most unfairly, the most common groups reported were peers, friends/people they socialize with, and teachers or school personnel (See the Figure on p. 4 of the article for more detailed findings). Most of the young respondents stated that they felt bad about themselves “often” (39%) or “sometimes” (44%) because of their emotional or mental health condition.
Participants were asked to choose from a series of reasons as to why other people had treated them negatively or unfairly. The top response was that they assumed you were weak-willed or not trying hard enough to be “normal” (endorsed by 81% of the respondents).
When asked if other people treated them with extra care and understanding because of their mental health condition, 86% of the youth respondents said “yes.” The people most likely to treat them positively were immediate family members and friends.
Caregiver Survey
The large majority of the caregivers reported experiencing stigmatization – 81% responded that there were times when people treated them negatively or unfairly because of their child’s emotional or mental health condition. When asked from whom they experienced this treatment, the most common groups reported were teachers or school personnel, people in the community, and friends or people you socialize with. (See the Figure on p. 5 of the article for more detailed findings). Three-fourths (75%) stated that they felt bad about themselves because of their child's emotional or mental health condition or how they dealt with it.
When asked to choose from a series of reasons as to why respondents believed they were being treated negatively or unfairly, the top responses endorsed revolved around parenting issues -- [other people] assumed you were weak-willed or not trying hard enough to get your child to behave or act “normal”, assumed your family was dysfunctional and/or that you were a bad parent, and assumed that your child would be a burden or cause extra expense or work for them.
The large majority (84%) of respondents stated that people had treated them with extra support and understanding because of their child’s emotional or mental health condition. When asked to choose who most often treated them positively, the most common groups reported were friend or /people you socialize with, followed by members of your immediate family, and your child’s mental health providers.
Questions for Discussion:
- The findings from this survey show that stigmatization comes from many different groups. Which group’s stigmatization do you think has the biggest impact on the lives of youth and caregivers?
- Given the high prevalence of stigmatization, how do you think we can best prevent the negative treatment of youth with mental health conditions and their caregivers?
- Both youth and their caregivers stated that they have experienced positive treatment. How can we harness this positive treatment to best support them?
Your thoughts…
Comments:
 Isn't it funny that some of those that would write these kinds of reports would be the first to put the individuals that have to go through this kind of thing in these kinds of positions to begin with? If you know that "when stigmatization" (name calling and bullying) is internalized, it can cause a person with a mental health condition to have feelings of shame and self-disgust" what excuse could anyone ever have for doing that to another individual in life, many practitioners do that every day!
Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 10:16 AM
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