Stigma In Health Care

There are many definitions in today’s society for the term stigma. Stigma, especially that surrounding mental health, is defined as a process which incorporates components of labelling, stereotyping, separation, loss of status and discrediting towards a certain person or minority group (Scheff 2014). The definition of stigma is one that has adapted since its first appearance in the English language. Stigma associated with mental illness can have many detrimental effects to the person with the mental health diagnosis, their family and friends and society. Although most of the stigma experienced with mental illness is expressed from the general public, health care professionals can indirectly contribute to this phenomenon. It is identified that
2015). Although the stigma associated with health care professionals may not be direct, the health care decisions they make for patients with a known mental illness can be different to a patient without a mental illness who is presenting with the same symptoms (Corrigan et al. 2014B). Even though health care professionals don’t necessarily label their patients, they do contribute to mental health stigma by negatively using prior experience with certain mental illnesses and mental health care as a way of forming an opinion or expectation of what their patient’s issues are, as they have treated other patients with the same mental illness (Corrigan et al. 2014B). It has been identified that many health care professionals have formed opinions about patients with mental illnesses in their adherence to treatments and interventions outlined by their health care teams. Health care professionals who endure stigmatising attitudes may have the opinion that people are less likely to follow through with their treatment recommendations as a result of having a mental health diagnosis (Corrigan et al. 2014B). As a result of these stigmatising beliefs, health care professionals may not offer certain treatment options to people with a mental illness, due to the fact that their recommendations may not be followed. Corrigan et al. (2014B) states, “Health care professionals who endorse more stigmatising attitudes about mental illness were likely to be more pessimistic about patient’s adherence to treatment.” These opinions formed by health care professionals contribute to the stigma associated with mental illness and consequently reduce the likelihood of help-seeking amongst people with a mental health diagnosis (Clement et al. 2015). Nurses are to value a high standard of nursing