The post raises awareness of the highly important and rarely discussed topic of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination against people with mental illnesses, which are not only harmful on their own but also make such individuals reluctant or hesitant to receive the care they need. It is a major problem when society itself does not want its members to prosper and be healthy but rather, at best, ignores them or, at worst, humiliates them. Therefore, stigma and discrimination are the issues on their own, and their effect on the victim is another concern. However, the situation is further worsened by the fact that “stereotypes and discrimination received the most research attention, while mechanisms that focus on the perspective of individuals with mental illness have been the least studied” (Fox et al., 2018, p. 348). Thus, there is a cascading effect of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, which harms people with mental illnesses on multiple levels.
Reference
Fox, A. B., Earnshaw, V. A., Taverna, E. C., & Vogt, D. (2018). Conceptualizing and measuring mental illness stigma: The mental illness stigma framework and critical review of measures. Stigma and Health, 3(4), 348–376.