Social Stigma and Mental Illness Learning Goals Examine

Social Stigma and Mental Illness

Learning Goals Examine some of the common myths about mental illness Understand the process of stigmatization and its impacts on mental illness Begin working towards a rethinking of mental illness

Stigmatization and its Impacts

Stigmatization Definition: Is a process of assigning negative characteristics/ identity to a person/group This causes the person/group to feel unaccepted, devalued and isolated from larger society There is a huge stigma in Western society around being mentally ill These individuals characterized as “crazy”, “nuts”, etc Youtube Clip: Stigma of Mental Illness http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=4 Fs. YUDM 6 UE 0

Effects of Stigmatization Loss of personal identity Rosenhan experiment Barrier to treatment Decreased employment Becomes a family’s “dirty laundry”

The Reality of Mental Illness 1/5 Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime and 4/5 will know someone who has a mental illness That means ALL of us are affected by it

Rethinking Mental Illness The bottom-line: We need to STOP thinking of people with mental illness as crazy psychopaths who are dangerous/should be avoided After all, here are some examples of people you may know suffering from mental illness…

Bipolar Disorder Catherine Zeta Jones Beethoven Mel Gibson Winston Churchill Sir Isaac Newton Mike Tyson

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Harrison Ford Cameron Diaz Leonardo Di. Carpio

Bulimia Princess Diana Elton John Paula Abdul

Paranoid Schizophrenia John Nash Nobel Prize Winner for Economic Sciences 1994

Post-Partum Depression Brook Shields

Depression Drew Barrymore Abraham Lincoln Clara Hughes

Mental Health Campaign http: //www. ctv. ca/CTVNews/Health/20100921/ bell-mental-health-00921/