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Introduction
I struggled a lot with how to go about writing an introduction for this piece. One logical approach to begin addressing the “stigmatization of mental illness” would be to define the specifics of what that concept even means. Even though the “stigma of mental illness” sounds like a term that should have a simple and universally understood meaning, defining the meaning of this term turns into an unimaginably daunting task. Not only are there dozens of different ways of understanding and giving examples of why and how mental health is socially stigmatized, but the very term “mental illness” itself is a philosophical quandary worth of its own separate project. Understanding the meaning and significance of the social stigma surrounding mental illness forces one to explore a particularly enigmatic intersection of psychology, philosophy, and social theory. And after spending far too much time at this proverbial intersection, I opted to go about defining this topic as I have done so below. That is to say, including a brief overview of the important themes and avoiding a nuanced analysis of the phenomenology of mental illness as a social construct. Furthermore, it should be noted that the term “mentally ill” can be thought of as referring to people currently living in the western and English speaking world who meet the current clinical definitions for having a mental disorder defined by the DSM 5.
I strongly encourage anyone reading this project to do some more research into the deeper meaning behind the concept of mental illness. It’s a fascinating and profoundly consequential debate about what it means to be human and the way we understand the world. The reason I chose not to do this here is because it’s not immediately relevant to my primary intentions in making this project. Fundamentally, my intention is to make you, the reader, more aware of the way you view people with severe mental illness and offer a new (less negative) perspective. And if we’re to extend that ambition, my intention is to positively affect those living with these disorders who you come to interact with in your life. And although it might not be possible to quantitatively verify what that would look like, the people who are impacted will know what this feels like. Because in a practical sense, most of us really do know what the social stigma of mental illness is talking about. People diagnosed with severe mental disorders know it because they experience life differently when people know about their disorders.People who don’t have these diagnoses know it because they approach interacting with and talking about people differently knowing they have a disorder. And everyone knows it because of the deep and palpable sense, we “know” that to have a severe mental health disorder is worse than to not have one.
I’ve decided to keep the scope of this project contained to understanding the specific ways society conceptualizes mental illness within the context of how this might have come to shape the way you personally see those you understand as being “severely mentally ill. I’ll specifically focus on three of what I deem to be the most emblematic examples of severe mental illness. These examples are schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse disorder (addiction). I’ll do this by including three contrasting descriptions of “views” that have evolved regarding these disorders along with the way our scientific understanding shaped the way we define them and understand them from the public standpoint. The section titled “Insane” focuses on the origins of a public understanding of mental illness as being something negative. Following that will be the section titled “Mentally Ill” which looks at our current “model” of seeing mentally ill people as a result of science and increased public “awareness” of psychiatry. The final section will propose a different way of thinking about mentally ill people that is intended not for providing a more proper “politically correct” set of norms for talking about mentally ill persons, but a revised story meant to be internalized and lense for the social significance of having a mental disorder.
Understanding the Stigma of Mental Illness
Public surveys over the past several decades seem to suggest that our modern society is more informed, educated, and accepting of people struggling with mental illness. That is to say; most people today say that they believe it is important to be compassionate and supportive of those living with mental disorders. And though this might seem like the problem is essentially almost solved; researchers still find a large discrepancy between the behaviors that would be expected from people with an "accepting and supportive" attitude towards people with mental disorders, and the ways studies observe how such people actually treat those who they perceive to be severely mental ill.
The information below gives an overview of the important concepts and findings of sociology and psychology literature concerned with the topic of social stigma surrounding mental illness. Although there are an endless number of ways the "stigma of mental illness" could manifest or understood, these studies help to establish the significant ways that stigma commonly affects our daily lives as well as the daily lives of people with disorders who we share our society with.
Social Distancing
One common measure studies researching the social views of mental illness use to assess stigma is the desire of the subjects to maintain a certain degree of social distance from those they perceive as being mentally ill. Questions used to determine desire for social distance might look something like the following:
Rate the degree to which you would willingly agree to...
1) Working on a project with a colleague if you knew they suffered from ___ disorder?
2) Spending an afternoon and evening with someone if you knew they suffered from ___ disorder?
3) Accepting someone marrying into your family as a welcome member if you knew they suffered from ___ disorder?
4) Welcoming someone as a new neighbor in your community if you knew they had ___ disorder?
Respondents desire for social distance varies from one disorder to another. Most often, people seem to have a greatest desire to remain socially distant from people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or a substance abuse disorder, particularly cocaine and alcohol abuse [1.1].
Perceived Dangerousness, Distrust, Incompetence
One important measure of a stigmatized belief that assess the degree to which research subjects view the person with the disorder as being dangerous or violent. Questions concerning this measure typically looked something like: In your opinion, how likely is that someone with ___ disorder will behave violently compared to someone without the disorder?
Perceived dangerousness is believed to be highly intertwined with desire for social distance. The same study saw strikingly similar values for desired for social distance as values for perceived dangerousness within the same disorders. This might suggest that people might be hesitant on socially connecting with mentally ill people because they believe there is a risk of being harmed by them.[1.1].
Other studies have shown that subjects are more likely to rate adults with schizophrenia as being unable to make competent financial or treatment related decisions [1.2].
Addressing the Stigma of Mental Illness
Public surveys over the past several decades seem to suggest that our modern society is more informed, educated, and accepting of people struggling with mental illness. That is to say; most people today say that they believe it is important to be compassionate and supportive of those living with mental disorders. And though this might seem like the problem is essentially almost solved; researchers still find a large discrepancy between the behaviors that would be expected from people with an "accepting and supportive" attitude towards people with mental disorders, and the ways studies observe how such people actually treat those who they perceive to be severely mental ill.
The information below gives an overview of the important concepts and findings of sociology and psychology literature concerned with the topic of social stigma surrounding mental illness. Although there are an endless number of ways the "stigma of mental illness" could manifest or understood, these studies help to establish the significant ways that stigma commonly affects our daily lives as well as the daily lives of people with disorders who we share our society with.
Mental Health Activism
One common measure studies researching the social views of mental illness use to assess stigma is the desire of the subjects to maintain a certain degree of social distance from those they perceive as being mentally ill. Questions used to determine desire for social distance might look something like the following:
Rate the degree to which you would willingly agree to...
1) Working on a project with a colleague if you knew they suffered from ___ disorder?
2) Spending an afternoon and evening with someone if you knew they suffered from ___ disorder?
3) Accepting someone marrying into your family as a welcome member if you knew they suffered from ___ disorder?
4) Welcoming someone as a new neighbor in your community if you knew they had ___ disorder?
Respondents desire for social distance varies from one disorder to another. Most often, people seem to have a greatest desire to remain socially distant from people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or a substance abuse disorder, particularly cocaine and alcohol abuse [1.1].