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Mental health stigmas in our society
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Mental health stigmas in our society
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The Importance of Mental Health Literacy Patricia Bailey 301 HSMT Bluefield State College October 5, 2017 The Importance of Mental Health Literacy The article “Mental Health Literacy: Social Work’s Role in Improving Public Mental Health”, was written by Amy N. Mendenhall and Susan Frauenholtz in the publication Social Work Volume 58, Number 4 on October 2013. As the article starts, the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) explains how the US took the public’s improvements in health literacy as such importance to contributing to the increase of health outcomes that they have took initiatives to make sure that the education would happen nationwide. The article asserts “Low levels of health literacy contribute to worse …show more content…
People with mental health issues are being misunderstood and can lead to stigmas and the labeling that can come along with them, in some cases hurting instead of healing. It is notable to have positive education about mental health disorders that promote recognition, prevention and finding the proper resources for treatment. Literacy of mental health is the key to reducing stigma and eliminating stereotypical beliefs either self-afflicted or from the public making a person more likely receive help when …show more content…
It goes with their job to assess and improve the lives of special populations, including children in foster care situations, and older adults, as many face barriers to accessing care, Social worker’s goals are to bring out dignity and worth of individuals, and aid in social justice, and concern. They can use mental health education can promote respect and self-sufficiency for individuals with mental health difficulties and help improve public mental health for the whole of
In the context of mental health, the social workers are important because they take the role of linking the services available within mental health and other services provided by the Local Authority. Due to their varied practical knowledge, they can signpost and guide the service users on different matters pertaining to their entitlement to housing, care, and other benefits.
The stigma and negative associations that go with mental illness have been around as long as mental illness itself has been recognized. As society has advanced, little changes have been made to the deep-rooted ideas that go along with psychological disorders. It is clearly seen throughout history that people with mental illness are discriminated against, cast out of society, and deemed “damaged”. They are unable to escape the stigma that goes along with their illness, and are often left to defend themselves in a world that is not accepting of differences in people. Society needs to realize what it is doing, and how it is affecting these people who are affected with mental illness.
Stereotypes and stigmas promote a dangerous, single-minded perspective. These incomplete or half-truths are often far more duplicitous than lies, as they are more difficult to detect. When these perspectives remain unchecked, they can result in far-reaching, adverse consequences. It is the individual’s duty to refuse to perpetuate this single story perspective. Due to misinformation presented by the media, the stigma surrounding mental illness has created a discriminatory single story perspective; however, through honest and open dialogue, particularly with those suffering from these diseases, these stereotypes can be abolished.
In today’s society, the stigma around mental health has caused many people to fear seeking medical treatment for problems they are dealing with. With an abundance of hateful outlooks and stereotypical labels such as: crazy, psycho, and dangerous, it is clear that people with a mental illness have a genuine reason to avoid pursuing medical treatments. Along with mental health stigma, psychiatric facilities that patients with a mental health issue attend in order to receive treatment obtain an excessive amount of unfavorable stereotypes.
Mental health literacy, similar to health literacy, provides information about mental health disorders and how to aid their management, awareness, and prevention (Wei). There are two main stigmas seen in the mental health community: public stigma and self-stigma. Both of these stigmas are detrimental to the strides being made in the mental health community. Within ethnic minority communities and the mental health community, stigmatisms and misconceptions associated with mental illness negatively impact people who suffer from such issues. In order to prevent unnecessary deaths and tragic suicide attempts, minority communities and the mental health community must work together to raise awareness and destigmatize mental illness.
“Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior” (Mayo Clinic). Mental disorders can happen many times through one’s life, but mental illness is classified as an ongoing problem with the symptoms that can affect the ability to perform normal day to day tasks (Mayo Clinic). Many people look at those afflicted with mental disorders as being crazy or clinically insane, while the reality is a problem many people live with on a daily basis with help from medications, psychologist visits, family, friends, help groups, and many other support systems. The lack of support available to mentally ill patients, the more that will refuse treatment and refuse to find help for their disorders. Many people who were born with mental disorders grow up knowing they have a problem, but people who develop them later in age don’t understand how to cope with it.
The mental health stigma has become a prevalent issue in the world of medical care. It can prevent people from receiving proper medical care and the quality of care people may receive. Stigma is defined as members of groups who violate the norms established by the dominant or privileged group and, as such, are marked as deviant (Jr. and Kite). Stigma can also lead to discrimination. The way we can try and diminish the severity of the stigma is to create transparency and openness about mental illness. Seeing that people are not defined by their disorder and can be successful regardless of the diagnosis. That they are not defined by their diagnosis they just have and suffer with the disorder. Also promoting education about mental health issues can diminish the myths about these issues thus lessening the amount of stigma. I have seen instances on our own campus in which they could have promoted counseling and mental health among the student body. I think the staff body could have took a more proactive approach to mental health. Instead of waiting until after students committed suicide and trying to fix the problem they could actively be promoting it regardless of the instances on the university campus. There are two different types of stigma; public and self-stigma. These stigmas can have different effects on the individual. Everyone has mental health and raising awareness about it and eliminating the stigma can help the world learn how to discuss and change this problem.
Mental health is a crucial part of our being and has a profound effect on how we live our lives. It determines how we socialize, how we reason, how we deal with our emotions, and how we handle stress; and when impaired and/or neglected, it can have crippling effects on the way in which we function on a cognitive or even physical level. Anyone can become susceptible to mental illness or compromised mental well-being. However, throughout history mental health has often been overlooked by society and mental illness, in particular, has been long stigmatized. This has left many of those affected untreated, poorly treated, destitute, and even outcast from society. Through education and the changing attitudes of society, mental health treatment has
Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their complete medical history with their providers, seek preventative care, understand the health risks associated with some behaviors, taking care of chronic health conditions, and understanding how to take prescribed medications (About health literacy, 2014). It is to a certain extent the patient’s responsibility to increase their own health literacy knowledge. But to what extent can they learn on their own? Those working in the health field have been trained to navigate the health system and understand the medical terms. They have the knowledge and capability to pass on that understanding to their patients. Health care professionals have a shared responsibility to help improve patients’ health literacy.
For a very long time, mental health was a disease people would not dare speak about. The stigma associated with mental health meant that it was viewed as a curse or simply poor upbringing. Crazy, right? (Pardon the pun). Although it’s not seen as a curse by us in this generation any more, many people with mental health issues still have to face ignorance, prejudice and discrimination from our society just because of their lack of understanding or reluctance to try and understand. Be that as it may, these attitudes directly impact upon how and if people choose to seek help, making the negative and ignorant opinions and attitudes of others potentially dangerous to many individuals and the people around them.
Why is there a cloud of judgment and misunderstanding still surrounding the subject? People with a mental disorder or with a history of mental health issues are continually ostracized by society. This results in it being more difficult than it already is for the mentally ill to admit their symptoms to others and to seek treatment. To towards understanding mental illness is to finally lift the stigma, and to finally let sufferers feel safe and accepted within today’s society. There are many ways in which the mentally ill are degraded and shamed.
If there are 40 students in the classroom, at least two of them could be living with serious mental illness. Although mental illness is something that is familiar to us, there is still misunderstood and stigma towards mental illness. Then why do many people still have wrong knowledge and attitude toward mental illness? There are many sources of the stigma, but one of the main sources is people’s ignorance toward mental illness.
Understanding the educator and learners role, assessments, methods of assessing needs, readiness to learn, learning styles and instruments are equally as important as having an understanding of theories. According to Bastable (2014), the educators role includes: assessing problems/deficits, provide information/present it uniquely and appropriately, identify progress, give feedback and follow-up, reinforce learning, and evaluate learners’ ability. Additionally, the educator must be able to assess the learner, establish his or her needs, the learners readiness to learn, literacy, and which style of learning would best benefit him or her.
Mass media “references to people with mental health problems found more than four in ten articles in the press used derogatory terms about mental health and nearly half of press coverage related mental illness to violence and crime” (Esseler, 244). This is causing for people to look down upon the mention of mental illnesses and many times ignore the importance of confronting this issue. Therefore the importance of removing this stigmatization is crucial. Education allows to make more informed decisions and then changing the perception of mental illness can lead towards policy changes toward the improvement of mental health (Sakellari,
Social workers level the playing field for individuals and families that have experienced hardships, terminal illnesses, mental health disorders and other adverse environmental situations that inhibit their ability to thrive within society. Social workers accomplish this by providing individuals and families the resources necessary to ensure that their needs are being met. Social workers serve an essential role to the functioning of our society, as they are committed and dedicated to increasing the quality of life for underprivileged community members. I fully intend on actively contributing to this endeavor, as I believe social workers have the responsibility to ensure that all community members have their needs met and the opportunity to