Psychiatric Labeling Analysis

“People who are mentally ill are completely incompetent and are at fault for having the illness”, “The mentally ill are severely dangerous”, “Someone who has a mental illness is childlike and could no way hold down a job or take care of themselves”. These are just a few of the stereotypes and beliefs held by those who stigmatize people that suffer from a mental illness. The issue of stigmatization has become a factor that can severely affect the overall quality of life of those labeled with a mental disorder. This has led some to believe, particularly labeling theorists, that a psychiatric label does more harm than good. However, due to treatment such as psychotherapy and drug therapy available to those who receive a psychiatric diagnosis,

the quality of life of those with a mental illness could be significantly improved. This is the belief held by the critics of the labeling theory who also known as psychiatric theorists. Not only does the treatment help patients with the symptoms of their mental disorder, but the specific treatment of therapy would also help them combat the effects of stigma. Therefore, although public stigma and self-stigma can have serious effects on the overall quality of life, the treatment that would be available after receiving the psychiatric label could combat such effects and improve quality of life and life satisfaction.
As briefly mentioned earlier, there are two perspectives on the issue of whether or not receiving a psychiatric label has more negative outcomes than positive.

The first perspective on this issue is from labeling theorists who believe that the stigma attached to mental illnesses is the central problem and that the label creates devaluation and discrimination. This then further affects the individual labeled with the mental illness by interfering with access to jobs, housing, and sometimes even mental healthcare. On the other hand of the argument, there are the psychiatric theorists who claim that the label of being mentally ill enables the individual to receive the necessary treatment for their disorder. Treatment of high quality, such as treatments with the approach of empowering the individual, would then in turn help to reduce symptoms, increase functioning and wellbeing, and even help in dealing with the effects of stigma (Rosenfield 660-661). One of the biggest arguments that the psychiatric theorists have against the labeling theory is that they view stigma to be “subjective and untrustworthy or, at the extreme, as distortions resulting from the pathology” (Rosenfield

661).
Due to the main claim of labeling theorists being that a psychiatric label brings about stereotypes and stigma that can have detrimental effects on an individual’s life, it is important to look at the specific effects of stigma when evaluating which side of the debate is more accurate.

According to Patrick W. Corrigan and Amy C. Watson, researchers at the University of Chicago Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Chicago Consortium, there are three components of stigma. The first component of stigma is stereotypes, which are collective thoughts and beliefs about a particular group that another social group all generally agrees upon. However, just because someone knows about a stereotype does not mean that they believe that the stereotype is true. An example of a stereotype that is applied to those with a mental disorder is those with a mental disorder are dangerous. The second component of mental illness stigma is prejudice. Whereas just because someone has knowledge about a stereotype doesn’t automatically mean that they believe it to be valid, someone who is prejudice would support the stereotypes and also have some sort of negative response or reaction due to them believing them endorsing the stereotype. For example, someone who was prejudice could believe that people who are mentally ill are in fact dangerous and which could then in turn provoke a negative emotional reaction such as fear. The third and final component of stigma is discrimination, which is the

behavioral response compared to prejudice which is a cognitive response. In continuation of the examples used above, if the prejudice reaction was that someone feared someone with a mental disorder then the discriminatory action would most likely be that the person would choose to avoid people labeled as mentally ill. This could then further lead to the person discriminating to not hire someone with a mental illness if they were an employer or to not allow them to rent housing. Not only to Corrigan and Watson claim that there are three components of stigma, but they also claim that there are two different types of stigma, public stigma and self-stigma.