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Alexandra Busbin

Mrs.Debock

English IV Honors

6 April 2017

The Stigmatization of Mental Illness

When people with mental illness are stigmatized it can lead to negative impacts on them

such as self-stigma or unwillingness to participate in professional care(Stier & Hinshaw). In fact,

stigma is one of the most important problems that the mental health field is dealing with

currently (Stier & Hinshaw). Seeing as poorly this affects a portion of the population, of the

population suffers from mental health issues every year, it is ostensibly hard understand or

interpret why people would act this toward something that another human being simply cannot

help (Stier & Hinshaw). Reasons for this kind of discrimination are wide and varied from lack of

viewing mental illness with attributes of humanity to the basic use of kinder language when

addressing these mental conditions.

When discussing mental illness it is important to understand what the underlying cause of

almost every mental illness is. Mental illnesses are caused by the deficiency or surplus of

hormones in the mind i.e. Serotonin or dopamine. Therefore it stands to reason that one could

equate the stigmatization of a mental illness, such as depression, to being discriminated for

having an iron deficiency. One of the most common reasons for any stigma is lack of

understanding and knowledge of the subject. According to Gaebel, even though there are large

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gaps in common peoples knowledge of mental illness they are able to tell the difference

between most illnesses. When a person with mental illness has severe psycho-social disability

they are stigmatized as violent, unpredictable, and will never recover (Gaebel). And at the

other end of the pool, when a person with mental illness has moderate psycho-social disability

the stigma is that they are not ill at all, and should pull themselves together (Gaebel). These

both can make a high impact on a persons self esteem and quality of life when they suffer from

mental illness.

Works Cited
Gaebel, W., et al. "The Relationship between Mental Illness Severity and Stigma." Acta

Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplementum, vol. 113, Feb2006 Supplement 429, pp.

41-45. EBSCOhost

Granello, Darcy Haag and Todd A. Gibbs. "The Power of Language and Labels: 'The Mentally

Ill' Versus 'People with Mental Illnesses'." Journal of Counseling & Development, vol.

94, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 31-40. EBSCOhost

Krupa, Terry, et al. "Understanding the Stigma of Mental Illness in Employment." Work, vol. 33,

no. 4, Aug. 2009, pp. 413-425. EBSCOhost

Martinez, Andres G. "When 'They' Become 'I': Ascribing Humanity to Mental Illness Influences

Treatment-Seeking for Mental/Behavioral Health Conditions." Journal of Social &

Clinical Psychology, vol. 33, no. 2, Feb. 2014, pp. 187-206. EBSCOhost

Michaels, Patrick J. and Patrick W. Corrigan. "Measuring Mental Illness Stigma with Diminished

Social Desirability Effects." Journal of Mental Health, vol. 22, no. 3, June 2013, pp.

218-226. EBSCOhost

Sickel, Amy E, et al. "Mental Health Stigma Update: A Review of Consequences." Advances in

Mental Health, vol. 12, no. 3, Dec. 2014, pp. 202-215. EBSCOhost
Stier, Andrea and Stephen P. Hinshaw. "Explicit and Implicit Stigma against Individuals with

Mental Illness." Australian Psychologist, vol. 42, no. 2, June 2007, pp. 106-117.

EBSCOhost