Mental Health Stigma Research Paper

Consumers’ Experience of Stigma
Mental illness can be considered one of the most apprehensive health issues in Australia as it has becoming increasingly obvious and deteriorated (Australian Institution of Health and Welfare 2010).
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008), in 2007, approximately 45.5% of total Australian people experienced a mental health problem over their lifetime, whereas 20% suffered symptoms of a mental health problem over one year. People who have been diagnosed with mental illness are among the most stigmatized, disregarded, discriminated, helpless, underprivileged and impuissant groups in Australian society (Overton & Medina 2008). To be specific, individuals with mental health problems are affiliated
Negative conceptions and assumptions related to mental illness possibly as destructive as illness itself (Overton & Medina). Social stigma of mental illness remarkably restricts opportunities for individuals such as good housing, intimate relationship, and employment (Corrigan, Roe & Tsang 2011). More importantly, the mental illness stigma is one of the significant obstacles t o the speed of recovery and provision of care for people with this health problem (Sartorius 2007). The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of mental illness related stigma, and discuss the possible sources and consequences of stigma for individuals who experience mental health problems through an examination of, and references to a range of relevant literatures, along with consumers’ experiences.
The term ‘stigma’ was initially generalized in sociology by Golffman (1963), who used it to refer to a characteristic that is extremely dishonoring, disgracing and decreases a entire and normal individual to a stained and disregarded one (Mental Health Council of Australia 2011). Contemporarily, stigma has been considered as the recognition of some identified people who have less worthy of respect
Both of them consist of three key elements – stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination (Corrigan 2004). Public stigma relates to the reactions of general public to those individuals who have diagnosed with mental illness and it mainly robs individuals’ social opportunities
(Corrigan 2004; Link & Phelan 2006). People with mental illness are usually hard to get suitable employment or seek good house because of employers and landlords are the two main prejudice components in their community (Corrigan 2004). One of patients wrote that, "I was in employment for
12 years, but when I took three months off from work due to illness I wasn 't allowed back to full time work, not even for a trial period" (Switaj et al 2012). Public stigma of mental illness is also associated with the criminal justice system (Corrigan 2004). Criminalizing mental illness directly managed by polices rather than the mental health services, therefore resulting in a large number of mental illness people in prison (Corrigan 2004). The adverse effect of public-stigma is also found in the health care services (Corrigan 2004). People who are identified as mental illness are often unable to obtain