After a review of this article, compiled by the Humanitarian Emergencies Certificate Program I now understand just how big of an issue mental health truly is. The article does a superb job covering topics in stigma, discrimination, health, and cultural perspectives of mental illness. Here are some key points I found that were very interesting.
- Mental illness stigma is defined as the “devaluing, disgracing, and disfavoring by the general public of individuals with mental illnesses”.(1) Stigma often leads to discrimination, or the inequitable treatment of individuals and the denial of the “rights and responsibilities that accompany full citizenship". (Abdullah, T., Brown, T.L. (2011). Mental illness stigma and ethnocultural beliefs, values, and norms: an integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31: 934-948.)
- Stigmatization can cause individual discrimination, which occurs when a stigmatized person is directly denied a resource (e.g. access to housing or a job), and structural discrimination, which describes disadvantages stigmatized people experience at the economic, social, legal, and institutional levels. (Ibid.)
- Attitudes toward mental illness vary among individuals, families, ethnicities, cultures, and countries. Cultural and religious teachings often influence beliefs about the origins and nature of mental illness, and shape attitudes towards the mentally ill. In addition to influencing whether mentally ill individuals experience social stigma, beliefs about mental illness can affect patients’ readiness and willingness to seek and adhere to treatment. (Nieuwsma, J.A., Pepper, C.M., Maack, D.J., Birgenheir, D.G. (2011). Indigenous perspectives on depression in rural regions of India and the United States.Transcultural Psychiatry, 48(5): 539-568.)
- A review of ethnocultural beliefs and mental illness stigma by Abdullah et al. (2011) highlights the wide range of cultural beliefs surrounding mental health. For instance, while some American Indian tribes do not stigmatize mental illness, others stigmatize only some mental illnesses, and other tribes stigmatize all mental illnesses. In Asia, where many cultures value “conformity to norms, emotional self-control, [and] family recognition through achievement”, mental illnesses are often stigmatized and seen as a source of shame. (Abdullah, T., Brown, T.L. (2011). Mental illness stigma and ethnocultural beliefs, values, and norms: an integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31: 934-948.)
The article provided many more key points as well as research and experiments that were conducted. I have provided the link so if anyone would like to read more in depth on this subject, it is as follows:
http://www.uniteforsight.org/mental-health/module7
No comments:
Post a Comment