Reducing Stigma

Question to Consider: What were the students' suggestions for ending mental health stigma? 

  1. Education 

  2. Awareness 

  3. Positive atmosphere 

 

NOTES 

  • Mental health stigma can be defined as the devaluation, marginalization, and stereotyping of individuals living with mental illness 

  • Generally, mental health stigma contributes to lower quality of life and interferes with access to important social and structural supports such as education, income, healthcare, employment, housing, in turn increasing experiences of marginalization among these individuals 

  • Mental health stigma deters students from self-disclosing mental health problems due to fear that doing so will result in discrimination at school and limit potential employment opportunities 

  • The researchers found that the majority of participants identified stigma as a barrier to receiving mental health treatment. Participants suggested that education and awareness could reduce stigma associated with having a mental health problem - previous studies 

  • The most prominent student suggestions for combatting mental health stigma included raising awareness about mental health including its prevalence (leading to normalization of mental illness); educating faculty and staff about how to recognize symptoms in students and direct them to appropriate resources; and promoting existing mental health resources - previous studies  

 

What were the students' suggestions for ending mental health stigma? 

  • Education, awareness, positive atmosphere, and open discussion  

  •  Males were more likely to state that eliminating mental health stigma was unlikely or impossible. Males were less likely, compared to females, to endorse awareness as a method for reducing or eliminating mental health stigma. A greater proportion of males endorsed conducting research when asked how mental health stigma could be ended.  

  • A smaller proportion of White (compared to non-Whites) stated that mental health should be reconceptualized 

  • Education ** 

    • a common suggestion was for such efforts not to be limited only to psychology students and to be offered from an early age 

  • Awareness ** 

    • a common suggestion was hearing stories about mental health stigma 

    • normalizing mental illness by becoming aware of its prevalence and the ability to succeed despite struggling with psychological issues - from Corrigan's and Wada et al.  

  • Positive Atmosphere ** 

    • participant responses also raised the importance of considering the emotional components of mental health stigma.  

    • for example, many students who endorsed the positive atmosphere theme, recommended the need for empathy, compassion, and acceptance when dealing with people living with mental health disorders.  

    • one student suggested that “students [should …] consider opening up to professionals with ‘a ‘gentle embrace’ ex: motivation with charisma rather that [being] too straight forward.” Such suggestions, however, may be difficult to enact and measure. 

    • participants who self-reported having been treated for a mental health disorder were overall less likely to suggest maintaining a positive atmosphere as a way to end mental health stigma. 

  • Open Discussion 

    • students suggested having “more […] frequent, open, normative conversation on mental health issues.”  

    • a theme that accounted for approximately 10% of responses was promoting the use of resources.  

    • this is particularly important, as a number of students  

    suggested that mental health stigma could be eliminated “by keeping students informed of resources.” 

    uUnfortunately, the majority of students in our study reported being unaware of campus initiatives promoting mental health awareness; these initiatives may be key to directing students to suitable and cost-effective treatments 

  • Males 

    • Male students, compared to female students, were less likely to endorse awareness, education, and curriculum changes as methods to end mental health stigma.  

    • In addition, male students were more likely to provide responses that could not be coded and express that eliminating mental health stigma was unlikely or impossible.  

    • While earlier studies have documented that the stigmatization of mental illness is different for males and females, recent work has found that related factors (e.g., stereotypical gender) may also contribute to mental health stigma 

  • Reconceptualization of mental health 

    • While education was suggested by the overall sample, reconceptualization of mental health, and changes in the educational curriculum was not.  

    • For reconceptualization of mental health, several participants suggested for mental health to be normalized, and for people to “talk and treat mental health checkups like normal medical checkups.”  

    • A substantial number of respondents who suggested curriculum changes to accommodate their mental health diagnoses expressed disappointment, anger, and dismay when faculty members ignored or misunderstood their mental health condition.  

    • To illustrate, a participant stated that his “attendance is affected by my mental health and attendance policies are not sensitive to this.”  

    • Another shared that after disclosure of a mental health disorder, she “provided a letter from my psychiatrist, but [the instructor] treated me as if I made it up and should snap out of it.” 

     

  • The article on "____", what were the students recommendations for ending stigma? - example of test question