Exploring Stigma's Influence on Mental Illness Recovery: An Essay

This essay investigates the significant impact of stigma on the recovery process for individuals with mental illnesses. It highlights how stigma, including societal attitudes and self-stigma, can severely undermine self-esteem, limit opportunities, and create barriers to accessing adequate healthcare. The essay discusses the detrimental effects of discrimination, both direct and structural, and how these factors can lead to internalised negative beliefs, hindering individuals from seeking treatment and achieving their recovery goals. It explores the importance of early intervention and the adoption of recovery-oriented models that focus on individual strengths and resilience. The essay also emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals and the public to develop a greater understanding of mental illness to combat stigma and promote more effective treatment and support systems, ultimately improving the lives of those affected by mental health conditions.

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Essay
Introduction
Stigma can pervade people’s lives particularly the ones facing mental illness. This
includes being rejected for opportunities like accommodation or employment due to mental
illness. Stigma arising due to social distance is also observed where people unwillingly
associate with others who face mental illness (Hungerford 2018). When society characterises
a person or a group, unexpected behaviour or discomfort is created which often leads to the
generalised connection between mental illness and abnormal behaviour resulting in avoidance
and labelling. This makes a very detrimental impact on the person suffering from mental
illness and they remain exposed to physical health issues along with other health-related
diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (Ahmedani 2011, pp. 1-2). In
this light, this essay will identify how stigma influences recovery for people with mental
illness.
One of the most catastrophic influences of stigma on mental illness is that it can
potentially endanger the self-esteem of the person. The stigma of mental illness can develop
such an illness where people start feeling of their failure rather than showing positivity
towards life. According to Avdibegović & Hasanović (2017), “The effects of stigma are
often subtle and spread through many areas of a person’s life” (p.900). Indeed, stigma affects
people by mechanisms like direct discrimination and refusal to appoint to do something.
Structural discrimination is also seen in some places where social psychological processes
stigmatize people's perception of themselves. Recovery, on the other hand, refers to the
subjective experience of empowerment, optimism and interpersonal support which
emphasises upon collaborative treatment approach and find alternative productive means to

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support and reduce stigma (Ahmedani 2011). However, Lucksted & Drapalski (2015) argues
that proximal effects of stigma have potential deferred consequences which subside the
pursuit of life goals from the mentally ill person, reduce community participation in them and
hinders social relationships (p.99). When a person belongs to a stigmatised group, internal
messages proves to be very impactful and are not possible to be avoided completely.
Therefore, people find recovery process drawn-out.
Stigma and discrimination often become internalised which leads to the development
of self-stigma in people which means, people with mental illness start believing negatively
about themselves and in turn, think that they might never be able to recover. As a result, such
negative thought leads them to feel the inability to attain their goals, feel shameful and
experience lowered self-esteem. Self-stigma can also develop the question within oneself
'why try?' where the person might think they will never recover or come go back to normal
life (Lucksted & Drapalski 2015, pp. 100-101). Stigma can also be linked to the ignorance
where a research made by Parle (2012) show that most of the common public do not have
appropriate knowledge about mental illness due to which they have often remain factually
incorrect. However, the author claim that some indications can be seen regarding public
opinion on stigma where they had turned positive and suggest greater understanding and
tolerance towards a mentally ill person as compared to previous years. But then, such
findings have been presented with much care and with the help of professionals only.
Poor physical care provided to a person with mental illness is one of the consequences
which is driven out of stigmatization. The person with mental disability is often reported as a
barrier in healthcare facility and as a result, their physical care is not met adequately. Another
issue is related to unconscious biases and lack of awareness which influences hidden beliefs
that can underline stigma-like attitude among mental health workers. Research suggests that
healthcare providers usually show a pessimist view towards mentally ill patients and

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concerning their recovery which acts as a strong source of stigma and barrier between person
recovery or ones seeking medical help. Pessimism concerning recovery can be associated
with the feeling of helplessness which makes the mentally ill people believe that whatever is
done to them do not matter (Knaak, Mantler, & Szeto 2017, p. 112). Public opinion, on the
other hand, shows that stigma continues to be a barrier to early treatment stages since people
would not seek professional help unless their symptoms show seriousness. Disengagement
from interventions and therapy services can further make patients stop taking medications
which relapses their mental illness cause and hinder recovery process (Parle 2012).
The concept of recovery for mental illness is based on the hope of getting a better life
from both inside and well as the outer network of mentally ill people. It can be noted that
paying attention to the person beyond symptoms and diagnosis is implied in a recovery-based
approach. A social and healthcare worker must avoid falling in the trap of overshadowed
diagnostic which leads to adverse consequences on people having a mental disorder
(Avdibegović & Hasanović 2017, p. 903). If mentally ill people are provided with early
treatments, it is feasible that they will reduce their illness earlier. This implies that mentally
ill people must be intervened critically and as early as possible. This will help people avoid
stigmatization and retain their normal life, social relationship as well as normal mental health
(Parle 2012). A recovery orientation model is suggested by Avdibegović & Hasanović (2017)
which includes giving a focus upon individual strengths, health promotion and resilience.
This model may require specific skills and a special form of communication between
healthcare professionals and mentally ill people and between psychiatry and the common
public who stigmatizes. Other than this, support is required for ones who work on the
development of alternative methods outside the traditional healthcare system to recover
mentally ill people.

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Conclusion
Mental illness-related symptoms are pervasive throughout the global and such
conditions can grow more in the next few decades. The above essay finds that stigma
influences recovery for mental people and acts as a barrier between them and early treatment.
Some of the consequences include disengagement from services, stop taking medications,
develop low-self-esteem and hinder the recovery process. Literature states that many few
people receive appropriate psychiatric treatment and once who follow the treatment often
falls into the trap of stigma which makes them feel that they do not require mental care.
Hence, stigma act as one of the biggest barriers between the treatment of the person who
seeks mental healthcare services and recovery.

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References
Ahmedani, B. K., 2011, ‘Mental Health Stigma: Society, Individuals, and the Profession’, J
Soc Work Values Ethics, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 1-14.
Avdibegović, E. & Hasanović, M., 2017, ‘The Stigma of Mental Illness and Recovery’,
Psychiatria Danubina, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 900-905.
Hungerford, C., 2018, Mental health care, 3 ed. Australia: John Wiley & Sons.
Knaak, S., Mantler, E. & Szeto, A., 2017, ‘Mental illness-related stigma in healthcare:
Barriers to access and care and evidence-based solutions’, Healthcare Management Forum,
vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 111-116.
Lucksted, A. & Drapalski, A. L., 2015, ‘Self-Stigma Regarding Mental Illness: Definition,
Impact, and Relationship to Societal Stigma’, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, vol. 38, no.
2, pp. 99-102.
Parle, S., 2012, ‘How does stigma affect people with mental illness?’, Nursing Times, vol.
108, no. 28, pp. 12-14.