THE STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS
In 1999, the Surgeon General's report on mental health identified stigma and public discrimination against mental health problems as the greatest
barrier to treatment and recovery for those suffering from the disease.
When people are stigmatized, it can lead to the devaluation of the
affected person resulting in a sense of hopelessness about recovery and
stability. In his report, Surgeon General David Sacher, M.D. stated our
society needs the "willingness of each of us to educate ourselves and
others about mental
health and mental illness, and thus to confront the attitudes, fear,
and misunderstanding that remain as barriers before us" (Mental Health, 1999).
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HOW TO COMBAT STIGMATIZATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Patrick W. Corrigan, PsyD, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Northwestern University is at the cutting edge of research and knowledge surrounding the stigmatization of people with mental illness. He has identified three ways to combat stigma and their effectiveness. EDUCATION
Corrigan defines education as "transposing the myths of mental illness with facts (White, 2004). It is popular because it is easily accessible. Some examples are Public Service Announcements on television and billboards. Corrigan has found though that the effects are small and tend to disappear within one to two weeks of viewing. PROTEST
Corrigan has found that this is not an attitude changer, but the National Alliance on Mental Illness has issued stigma alerts concerning negative stereotyping. Two recent campaigns have been against the Thanksgiving show of Desperate Housewives which depicts the character Dave as criminally insane (Desperate Housewives Stigma Alert)and the new line of Burton Snowboards which depict self-mutilation (Burton Stigma Alert).CONTACT
Contact is introducing the population to people with mental illness. Corrigan's research has shown that compared with education, contact "led to significant changes in attitudes and behavior that were maintained until a month later (White, 2004). In his research with college students they were assigned to one of three groups. Low contact - meeting a homeless person on the street, High contact - knowing a famous person with the illness, and Middle contact - knowing a coworker or person through places such as church or school. Corrigan found that Low contact tended to reinforce stereotypes, High contact did not have a large effect, but Middle contact, knowing or watching a video of a "regular person" struggling with the illness greatly challenged stereotypes. Videos such as NAMI's In Our Own Voice program go a long way to challenging and alleviating stereotypes.
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