Essay: Stigma's Influence on Recovery in Mental Illness - Analysis

This essay examines the significant influence of stigma on the recovery process for individuals experiencing mental illness. It explores how societal perceptions, discrimination, and self-stigma create barriers to seeking and engaging in mental health care. The essay delves into the various forms of stigma, including structural stigma within social and institutional frameworks, and their effects on treatment outcomes. It also highlights the impact of cultural and social factors on stigma development and the importance of public health strategies in addressing negative attitudes and promoting care utilization. The essay emphasizes the need for a comprehensive assessment of stigma-related factors to improve the recovery process and encourage health-seeking behavior among those with mental health conditions, referencing several studies and research findings to support its claims.

Stigma Influence on Mental Illness the Recovery
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Stigma influence on the recovery process for people with mental illness
Introduction
Stigma is described as an occasion where there is a negative view perception on a particular
characteristic or attribute such as culture, skin, disability or mental illness. Stigma occurs
when an individual perceives or defines another person through the lens of illness as of their
states (Pescosolido et al., 2013). Among persons with mental health-related issues, stigma is a
common phenomenon in the recovery pathway. This review offers an avenue of
understanding this underlying matrix of stigma on the recovery process among persons with
mental health illness.
The mental health recovery process
The treatment process for mental illness often compounds a mix of pharmacological and non-
pharmacological processes having an aim to reduce the level of symptoms and disabilities
linked to the mental state. Despite these, persons affected by this disease do not seek out and
engage in the recovery avenues process (Corrigan, Druss and Perlick, 2014). Fundamental
factor entailing this characteristic habit entails stigma related issues. The complex elements
of stigma and other fundamental aspects play a critical role in the care process of mental
illness persons.
Mental illness has a varied effect on the overall person’s life inclusive of physical health,
relationships, employment and individual education. Widespread attitude thoughts for the
people with mental illness has led to being an enabling ground for harmful violations of basic
human rights such as access to mental care management (Seeman, Tang and Brown, 2016).
The associative behaviour hampers efforts to improve the overall mental health states. These
negative attitudes hamper mental health-seeking behaviour. This alters the effect of seeking
treatment, reducing the overall support of care towards the mental service arena reducing the
overall availability of mental health care system services. This overall aspect limits the
recovery process of mental health care (Fox, Earnshaw, Taverna & Vogtt, 2018).
Influence of stigma
Stigma has been viewed in the prism of depicting mental health illness as a dangerous and
unpredictable disease leading to discrimination in various avenues. These entail exclusion
from employment conditions, social avenues, educational avenues and medical settings. In

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the medical world, discrimination occurs in form of stereotyping making the health care
provides to less likely drive their attention towards the patient rather than mental illness
client, affecting tremendously the outcome of care and eventual recovery process
(Tyszkowska et al., 2013).
These demonstrated aspects of mental illness lead to discrimination which can often be
internalized and emerge as a self-stigma. Persons with mental illness begin to have negative
thoughts expressed from others, leading to a barrier in the recovery process. This yields
aspect of shame, low self-esteem and inadequacy in tasks and goals completion. Further
consequential effects of self-stigma entail aspects and occurrence of the 'why try' effect,
whereby the victims are not able to have a full recovery and avoidance of labelling on
negative terms such as ‘mentally ill' making them fear to seek treatment and hide the
underlying mental illness issues thus affecting the recovery process (Podogrodzka-Niell and
Tyszkowska, 2014).
Aspects of structural stigma entrenched in the social and institutional frameworks offer an
avenue for additional large scale hindrance on mental care through limiting avenues for
seeking help. Aspects such as lack of parity in the mental health care status, limited funding
and mental health research and application of medical history aspects in the legal world
underlay the structural reasons affecting person seeking mental health recovery process
(Rasmus et al., 2013.
Studies have demonstrated that culture, social aspects and knowledge influence the overall
correlation of stigma and care access. Cultural aspects influence the behavioural types which
have an effect on the stigma development and negate the social norm and the overall
discrimination process among people who display behaviours which have non-conformance
behavioural aspects. Social avenues such as the family and friend have a bigger influence and
impact on aspects of treatment pursuance influence the feelings of stigma towards care
approaches underlying the recovery pathway (Daumerie et al., 2012).
Due to the impact of culture, knowledge and social networks effects on the care access
behaviour, public health strategies need to focus on the encouraging care utilization of
services and educating the populations on mental health issues. This is directed towards
combating the harmful effects of stereotyping which is linked to hampering the process of
illness and treatment. Furthermore addressing the cultural barriers and improving the

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available treatment networks is essential in the care process and promotes the recovery
process (Audu et al., 2013).
Conclusion
People with mental illness often experience stigmatization in greater magnitudes. Varieties of
factors have an impact on the process of recovery among these patients. These factors have
developed to be a source of stigma in seeking mental health care services. Patients can at
times find strength in themselves in managing the mental recovery phase however to others
they tend to entrench negative thought process which leads to self stigmatization aspects.
Social frameworks such as family and close people around can have a positive or negative
effect on the recovery process. Experience on the social reluctance reinforced by stereotyping
affects the health-seeking behaviour lading to lack of disclosure of mental states and illness.
The structural avenues can facilitate stigma related occurrence altering the medical recovery
process and care-seeking avenues among persons having mental health-related issues.
Structural process plays a crucial role in influencing stigmatization avenues in mental care
process altering the pathway for the recovery process. Hence there is a need for an overall
assessment of stigma related factors affecting and altering medical care-seeking behaviour
among persons having mental health illnesses. Addressing these underlying factors is a
crucial step towards improving the recovery process and influence health-seeking behaviour
among the populations at large.

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References
Audu, I.A., Idris, S.H., Olisah, V.O. and Sheikh, T.L., 2013. Stigmatization of people with
mental illness among inhabitants of a rural community in northern Nigeria. International
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Corrigan, P.W., Druss, B.G. and Perlick, D.A., 2014. The impact of mental illness stigma on
seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest,
15(2), pp.37-70.
Daumerie, N., Vasseur, S.B., Giordana, J.Y., Bourdais, C.M., Caria, A. and Roelandt, J.L.,
2012. Discrimination perceived by people with a diagnosis of schizophrenic disorders.
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Fox, A.B., Earnshaw, V.A., Taverna, E.C. and Vogt, D., 2018. Conceptualizing and
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measures. Stigma and health, 3(4), p.348.Pescosolido, B.A., Medina, T.R., Martin, J.K. and
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