Understanding and addressing the stigma of mental illness with ethnic minority communities

Understanding the impact of stigma on people with mental illness.

Mental illness and stigma.

he word " Stigma " comes from the Greek word " stizen " which means to tattoo or to brand. In ancient Greece, they branded or cut into the flesh of slaves or criminals so that others could identify them as less-valued members of society. Broadly speaking " stigma " is a negative evaluation of a person tainted or discredited on the basis of attributes such as mental disorder or mental illness, r...

Stigma of Mental illness

Prepared for Stigma in Mental Health: Interventions to Reduce the Burden, J. ArboledaFlorez and H. Stuart (eds.) John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Based on a presentation at the World Psychiatric Association International Congress, October 2006, Istanbul. We acknowledge support from the Fogarty International Center, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Behavioral and Social Science R...

Stigma of mental illness.

BACKGROUND Psychiatric patients carry the additional burden of stigma. METHODS The views of 300 psychiatric out-patients and day-patients and 100 mental health workers concerning stigma were sought. The control group comprised 50 cardiac out-patients. RESULTS A fair proportion of patients with schizophrenia or depression perceived that stigma had a negative effect on their self-esteem, rela...

Measuring mental illness stigma.

The effectiveness of efforts designed to address mental illness stigma will rest on our ability to understand stigma processes, the factors that produce and sustain such processes, and the mechanisms that lead from stigmatization to harmful consequences. Critical to such an understanding is our capacity to observe and measure the essential components of stigma processes. This article is designe...