Both somatic and mental disorders affect the lives of the patient’s closest relatives. However, studies conducted in 16 countries around the world indicate that mental problems more stigmatize the patient’s family. This article is published in Psychological Medicine.
The research was carried out as part of the World Health Organization’s initiative World Mental Health Survey Initiative, which aims to assess the prevalence of mental illness and its impact on society, patients and their families.
The researchers analyzed data from 16 countries around the world – Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, France, Spain, the Netherlands, India, Colombia, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Great Britain, Italy and the USA. They concerned the feeling of embarrassment and stigmatization among family members of people suffering from mental disorders, such as alcohol, drug addiction and schizophrenia. They were compared with the results obtained among relatives of people with somatic diseases, i.e. related to the body.
It turned out that both diseases pose a psychological burden to the members of the patient’s family.
“However, relatives of people with mental disorders felt more embarrassed and stigmatized than the families of people with somatic disorders,” comments co-author Jordi Alonso of the Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mediques in Barcelona.
According to the researcher, this indicates that social campaigns aimed at combating the stigmatization of patients with mental disorders should also include their family members.
WHO estimates that the rights of people suffering from mental disorders are regularly violated around the world.
As Alonso adds, mentally ill people face discrimination on a daily basis, incl. in the field of education and employment. “In some countries they are also harmed in various ways, they are prevented from voting, getting married and having children” – the researcher explains.
WHO representatives believe that the stigma associated with these diseases can be a huge obstacle on the way to their early detection, and thus – to effective treatment. Mental patients are therefore relegated to the margins of society. (PAP)