Articles Tag: Anxiety|Depression

What is stigma against mental illness? How can sufferers overcome stigma?

Stigma is a mark of shame associated with mental illness, mainly due to misconceptions about what mental illness is. It is commonly thought that mental illnesses are caused by personal weakness, character defects, black magic and supernatural influences. People also think that sufferers are prone to violence and fear them. These misconceptions result in discrimination against sufferers, with many being unable to get equal opportunities in society.

The phenomenon of stigma can be divided into two types: societal (external) stigma and self (internal) stigma.

Societal, or external, stigma refers to society’s biased attitudes towards sufferers of mental illness. In Pakistani society the stigma is so high that ‘nafsiyati’ (the Urdu word for mental illnesses) is routinely used as an insult. If any member of a family is suspected of having mental health problems, often the entire family is stigmatized. Professional mental health services are generally frowned upon and it is thought that those diagnosed with mental health problems cannot recover. These social attitudes make it very difficult for sufferers to be honest about their condition and impedes their journey of recovery.

Self, or internal, stigma involves sufferers feeling that their mental illness will prevent them from being able to thrive and causes them to lose hope. This results in the sufferer feeling immense self-doubt and causes them to develop low self-esteem, guilt and even shame. This, in turn, decreases their motivation for seeking treatment and impedes their journey of recovery.

Stigma can be overcome by:

• Educating the public about the true nature of mental illness through mass mental health awareness campaigns. This would enable society to understand mental illness and how to enable others to seek help.
• Survivors sharing their stories of mental illness in public. This would show that recovery is possible and would give sufferers hope.
• The sufferer learning about health and mental illness to understand that recovery is possible and to dispel any misconceptions they may have internalized.
• The sufferers practicing self-compassion and learning to forgive themselves for any mistakes they may have made when they were ill.