Erasing public stigma
One of the most crucial parts of fighting stigma is addressing the public. Protest has been one of the approaches used to change behaviors and tackle stigma. It is however a reactive approach that works through providing punishing consequences to discriminatory behaviors that decreases the likelihood of people repeating these behaviors. It does unfortunately have a limited impact on public attitudes and can actually have contrary effects if protest is trying to suppress people’s attitudes, due to people in general not appreciating if they are told what to think and what not. Protest has however shown to be effective in media, by banning some of mass media’s prejudiced depictions of people with mental illness. One such example was cancellation of the ABC series Wonderland that depicted a mental facility and its patients in very violent terms. Like mentioned, mass media is a powerful source where most of us get our information from. It is something that can create or maintain stigma, but is also something that can be used to break it and to educate the general public.
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Education, both through campaigns and media but also in more traditional form such as workshops, lectures, seminars and as a part of general school education is a proactive approach that will challenge people’s inaccurate stereotypes and replaces them with factual information. From this perspective, ignorance is the key enemy. Currently, both government and private agencies are providing information about mental illness, with a goal to destigmatize it. Research has shown that educational programs can produce benefits, but these benefits are not universally found and are not likely in themselves to produce long-lasting effects. In other words, education seems to works, but to a limited extend.
It is further important to note the importance of the content of educational programs. If for instance the neurobiological causes of mental disorders are emphasized, it can on one hand reduce shame and blame associated with it, but on the other hand creates an even bigger separation between “us” and “them”. Those with mental illness can start being seen almost as different species. By pointing out the genetic factors, it can also increase beliefs about mental illness being lifelong and that the person is therefore unchangeable, which will instead increase stigma. How to address the public to create the best outcome of stigma reduction, is therefore a complex question. Recent research has found that interventions that focus on the effectiveness of mental illness treatment as well as contact through hearing directly from those who have experienced mental disorders can produce larger improvements in attitudes. See references: Corrigan, P.W. (Ed.). (2005), Hinshaw, S.P. (2007), Leff, J., & Warner, R. (2006), Parcesepe, A.M., & Cabassa, L., J. (2013), Rüsch, N., Angermeyer. M.C., & Corrigan, P., W. (2005), Sartorius, N., &Schulze, H. (2005). |