DSRS4100 Essay: Mental Health Stigma and Professional Awareness

This essay delves into the multifaceted issue of mental health stigma, examining its profound impact on individuals and their significant others. It explores how societal norms and misconceptions contribute to the stigmatization of mental illness, leading to negative consequences such as social isolation, delayed treatment, and reduced self-esteem. The essay then investigates the crucial role of mental health service providers, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, in mitigating the effects of stigma through compassionate care, education, and advocacy. Furthermore, it analyzes the relationship between awareness of stigma and professional development, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing stigma for both current and future professionals in various fields. The essay concludes by highlighting the need for continued efforts to reduce stigma and promote a more inclusive and supportive environment for individuals with mental health conditions.

Stigma

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Concept of stigma on the lives of people with a mental health condition...................................3
Impact of stigma could be minimized by service providers........................................................4
Relation of awareness of stigma to the current or future profession...........................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Stigma basically refers to the negative attitude and the usage of the discriminatory
practices against some on the basis of the certain distinguishing characteristics like the mentally
challenged or ill, health conditions and the social disability. This can also be associated with the
other characteristics as well such as the gender, sexuality and cultural background. Out of this,
the stigma surrounding the mental health is very common and this is the leading risk which has
contributing to the poor mental health conditions. This essay provides an insight into the concept
of stigma in respect to the lives of the people dealing with the mental health issues. It covers
determining the ways through which stigma could be minimized by the service providers.
MAIN BODY
Concept of stigma on the lives of people with a mental health condition
The concept of stigma is universal as it exists all across the globe and cultures. It is
considered to be rooted within the societal norms and is therefore, work in the way in which the
society deems acceptable. The stigmatization occurs at the individual level as per the perception
and the values the people have adopted. But, the stigma in respect to the mental illness is mainly
the outcome of the generalized community which is held by a particular group (Song, Mailick
and Greenberg, 2018). The researchers have stated that people with mental illness is the current
reality of the many people in Australia. The lack of education along with the depiction of the
mental disability in the media are the key factors which has resulted into the contribution to the
condition of the mental illness. In addition to this, the people who are labelled with tag of
mentally disable are most of the time treated unfairly and they might not be able to stand up for
themselves. One of the consequences of this stigmatization is that it lead to people to avoid their
illness, hiding from others and delay in getting appropriate help for their problem and this is
mainly because of the reason that they are afraid of the people's thinking and the view point of
them. The stigma of mental illness is hidden under the variables like the shame, sufferings and so
forth.
As per the stigma theory, people who develops the conceptions in regard to the mental
illness in the early stage of life from the family, or from the personal experience and the
depiction by the media of the people with mental illness (Henderson and Gronholm, 2018).
Based upon these conceptions, the people start making assumptions pertaining to the behaviour
of the other people towards them and is also expects that they will reject the people dealing with

the mental heath issues and will not accept them as friend, employee or a neighbour. In addition
to this, people start devaluing the people with more mental illness due to less trustworthy or
incompetent. The stigma of mental illness is having a huge impact over the lives of the people
who are dealing with it. For a person who have never experienced any type of mental illness or
any psychiatric hospitalization, then these beliefs would be having little relevance but on the
other hand, these beliefs would be having a strong relevance for the people who have developed
serious mental illness.
The fear of rejection is one of the most serious outcome of the negative consequences and
this consequently lead to undoubtedly threatening along with personally disheartening for the
one to believe that one have developed the mental health issues. This would lead to expectation
that the people will reject them and people who are hospitalized for mental illness might act less
confidently (Yanos, 2018). Researchers have also identified that the stigma related to the mental
illness is also having an impact over the self-esteem of the individual and the only way through
which this stigma can be reduced is by improving the self-esteem of the people. There is a
significant impact of the mental illness which has the potential to disrupt the person's thing and
perception, feelings and the ability to relate with others. Thus, it becomes essential to
immediately address the mental illness issue in order to provide better care to the people. They
are socially deprived in respect to getting employment and would be having less access to
support themselves.
Impact of stigma could be minimized by service providers
The mental health services are the professionals who undertake and examines the mental
health conditions of the people and also provides treatment for the same. In order to do this,
requires at least master's degree or the higher advanced education in the specific field along with
undertaking proper training and credentials (Michaels and et.al., 2017). It is important to make
sure that the professional who are being selected are having the licence in order to provide
mental health services. Below are some of the common types of mental health service providers
who can be helpful in reducing the impact of stigma.
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is the physician or the doctor of osteopathic medicine who are having
specialization in the mental health. Such service providers diagnosis and provides treatment to
the patients dealing with the mental health issues. In addition to this, they provide psychological

counselling as well which is of great help to the people. Based upon the evaluation of the patient
they provide relevant medication for curing the illness. A psychiatrist is provided with proper
training and experience, therefore, people can rely on them for proper treatment. In addition, they
understand the problems of the people dealing with the mental illness and works on making
patient comfortable and relax and maintain confidentiality of information.
Psychologist
A psychologist is trained in the psychology which involves dealing with the emotions,
feelings and the thoughts of the people (Link, Phelan and Sullivan, 2017). They have a doctoral
degree into this. Psychologist undertakes the diagnosis process and provides a number of
treatment to the patients dealing with the stigma of mental illness through the way of providing
them with the relevant psychological counselling in case required on a one-on-one basis or
within a group. They mostly do not provide medication but if they have licence then they can do
so.
Psychiatric-mental health nurse (P.M.H.N)
P.M.H.N refers to the registered nurse who has been provided with the relevant training
in regard to the mental health issues. It requires at least having master's degree pertaining to the
P.M.H.N. Apart from this, other high qualified or practice nurse who can provide the such
services involves the clinical nurse specialist or a well certified nurse practitioners (Klarić and
Lovrić, 2017). There are variation in the services which is being offered by the nurse because of
their education level and along with the level of training and the experience they have
undertaken. The nurse is having the capability to assess, diagnose and provide treatment to the
mentally ill patients which differs based on their education and licence. If the state law provides
can also prescribe medication in case of advanced practice nurse.
Licensed clinical social worker
In certain cases, people also look for the social workers, therefore, it is better to look for
the licensed clinical social worker (L.C.S.W.) having specialised training and experience in
regard to the mental health. For this, they required master'' degree in the social work. They can
undertake the assessment, diagnosis along with the counselling in addition to the other wide
range of mental health services. But, it is important to note that they are not allowed to prescribe
any medication.

All the above stated are the common service providers who can help in minimizing the
impact of stigma of mental illness but it is important to understand that they are open-minded
and are not like the people of society who rejects or abandon the mentally ill people.
Relation of awareness of stigma to the current or future profession
People are actually aware of the stigma in respect to the mental health issues within the
society. But it is also determined or identified that they are having either positive or negative
point of view towards this issue. The positive perception states that or it believes that in the
recent and coming generation, there will be more understanding in regard to gaining a more
understanding about the mental health issues along with the change in perception towards it and
people dealing with it. In addition to this, over the decades, it has been analysed that the mental
illness stigma is slowly and gradually fading away but it will take time. While there are people
who have perceived it in a negative way (Rüsch and et.al., 20190. They consider that the people
with the mental health issues are unstable and unpredictable and afraid. There are both positive
and negative sides of this and therefore, there is an increase in the need to form a better
knowledge and understanding pertaining to the impact of mental illness stigma over the life of
the people. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding which will help in an
effective development of the current and the future profession. This is not only related to the
people practising into this field but also for the people into the other profession as well.
Changing stringent mindset from the old societal norms will also help in bringing change to the
thinking of the public in respect to the mental illness. In addition to it, this is meaningful in the
current as well as the future professional development of the people dealing with such people.
Through the way of increasing awareness of it will help in making the lives of the
mentally ill people easy. As people will no more reject or disrespect them which will result into
increasing the self-esteem of the people, and they will be less afraid and would fearless and will
not hide themselves out of shame. Implementing rightful practices will help in overall
professional development will be important and relevant for the future of the individual as well.
By the way of implementing campaigns will help in bringing out more awareness among the
people which will be beneficial and in addition to it, promoting its on the social networking sites
like Facebook will also help in reaching large group of audience making it easy to effectively
communicating the message. For making it a success, it is completely dependent upon the
thinking and the perception of the society and the community as if they are ready to change their

thinking and norms then this will bring positivity in the environment and making it easy for the
professionals to provide more proper and effective methods for treating their patients.
Therefore, through the way of increasing awareness helps in personal as well as
professional development of the individual. All this will help in providing better future and
would be beneficial for mentally ill people as well as for the professionals who are providing
treatment to them (Major and et.al., 2018). Apart from this, the future professionals would be
provided with better understanding as they would be less aware of the poor treatment of the
mentally disabled individuals. They would be open-minded and will not be affected by the norms
and behaviour of the society and in addition will also assist and support in bringing awareness of
the same. Thus, creating awareness of the stigma in relation to the mental health conditions of
the people will be valuable in the current and more to the future profession.
CONCLUSION
It can be inferred from the above that the mental health stigma is the serious issue which
is being faced by all the nations across the globe to a certain level. The cause behind this stigma
is the stigmatization of the perception of the society and community pertaining to the mental
illness. It indicates how this stigma impacts the lives of the people having mental problems and
the ways through which it can be reduced. There are various service providers who can help in
minimizing the impact of stigma and the relevance of increasing awareness in respect to the
stigma related to mental illness which will result into better current and future profession.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Henderson, C. & Gronholm, P. C. (2018). Mental health related stigma as a ‘wicked problem’:
the need to address stigma and consider the consequences. International journal of
environmental research and public health. 15(6). p.1158.
Klarić, M. & Lovrić, S. (2017). Methods to fight mental illness stigma. Psychiatr
Danub. 29(Suppl 5). pp.910-917.
Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C. & Sullivan, G. (2017). Mental and physical health consequences of the
stigma associated with mental illnesses. In The Oxford Handbook of Stigma,
Discrimination, and Health.
Major, B., & et.al. (2018). Stigma and its implications for health: Introduction and overview. The
Oxford handbook of stigma, discrimination, and health. pp.3-28.
Michaels, P. J., & et.al. (2017). Constructs and concepts comprising the stigma of mental
illness. Psychology, Society, & Education. 4(2). pp.183-194.
Rüsch, N., & et.al. (2019). Disclosure and quality of life among unemployed individuals with
mental health problems: a longitudinal study. The Journal of nervous and mental
disease. 207(3). pp.137-139.
Song, J., Mailick, M. R. & Greenberg, J. S. (2018). Health of parents of individuals with
developmental disorders or mental health problems: Impacts of stigma. Social Science
& Medicine. 217. pp.152-158.
Yanos, P. T. (2018). Written-off: Mental health stigma and the loss of human potential.
Cambridge University Press.