We often draw wrong conclusions about things we don’t know enough about. This also applies to mental disorders. This is how stigmas arise – false beliefs based on fear and stereotypes. Because of them, not only those who are faced with a diagnosis suffer, but also their loved ones and society itself as a whole. Why is stigmatization dangerous and why should it be combated?
People with mental disorders are discriminated against in the family, at work, in their personal and social life, in the media, and even when seeking help from medical institutions. Stigmatization of people who are faced with a particular diagnosis prevents them from adapting and negatively affects the quality of life.
Speaking about people suffering from mental illness, giving comments on a specific case, special emphasis should be placed on the personality of the person, and not on his illness. This is the only way to show that he, like everyone else, feels, suffers, wants to live – and live with dignity.
How Stigma Occurs
“If we consider the concept itself, then stigmatization is the assignment of negative qualities to a person based on some information. As a rule, the poorer the initial data, the more erroneous the judgments are, explains psychiatrist Dmitry Zanosov. “It is based on incorrect synthesis of information, when our brain creates new ones based on old knowledge.”
That is, on the basis of incomplete data, a conclusion is made about human behavior, about what can be expected from him.
“The stigmatization of people suffering from mental illness has a very long tradition in world history. And some 100-150 years ago, stigmatization was horrendous,” says psychiatrist Mikhail Bazhmin. – Now it is even fashionable to have your own psychoanalyst, your own psychologist, but then it was a taboo. People were locked up in prisons, in casemates, expelled from cities.”
Today, attitudes towards people with mental disorders have changed significantly. At least in countries with developed health care, the situation is this, and in others it can be compared with what it was at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.
Stigma prevents those in need of help from seeking it, often exacerbating disorders
“Stigmatization has mutated,” says Mikhail Bazhmin. – And manifests itself in other areas. Words like “moron”, “idiot”, “nerd” have become swear words. Although not so long ago they were included in the classifier of diseases. “Alcoholic”, “drug addict” and other terms still have a negative connotation. It penetrated the cultural code so much that it was reflected in the language. And we don’t even think about it.”
According to Dmitry Zanosov, stigmatization has penetrated not only into speech: some labels are firmly rooted in the mind. There is an opinion that creative people suffer from personality disorders and if they are treated, the genius will die. Or – that a person diagnosed with schizophrenia should not be hired: he will certainly begin to rush at colleagues.
This is also the result of stigma. After all, talent, ability to work, and much more can be determined only in a particular patient with a specific clinical picture.
Stigmatizing those who suffer from mental disorders, we are not considering a person, but a separate sign. And on its basis we build ideas about the person as a whole. That is, we behave inhumanely towards someone who is no worse and no better than us.
What does it look like?
The phenomenon has penetrated deeply into all spheres of life and takes a variety of forms, sometimes ugly and dangerous.
“Stigmatization is still widespread even at the state level,” says Dmitry Zanosov. “People with mental disorders are deprived of the opportunity to drive a car, work in a number of specialties, and serve in the army. Although in each case, the decision should be made by the commission, based on the lost mental functions. To decide whether such a loss affected the ability to perform certain actions, whether it makes the patient dangerous for himself and for others, must be very carefully. Because a diagnosis is always a wide range of conditions, and you can’t just ban something based solely on data about it.”
Any “equalization”, especially at the state level, leads to the fact that a person is perceived as a set of clichés, and not as a person. Yeah, this one is a “psycho”, which means … And then general conclusions follow, which, perhaps, have absolutely nothing to do with this particular person.
“A separate type of stigmatization,” says Mikhail Bazhmin, “is the stigmatization of people with a diagnosis by representatives of other medical specialties. Psychiatry other doctors do not know. Sometimes they don’t even understand what the difference is between a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist.”
A lot of anecdotes, jokes about “nuts” and psychiatrists – all these are elements of stigmatization. Although general practitioners should not joke, but study the issue, and then they could detect signs of diseases at an early stage and send patients to a specialized specialist.
“Colleagues compare a psychiatrist with his patients, put an equal sign,” says Mikhail Bazhmin. – No offense, of course. But all this points to a low level of awareness among both doctors and patients.”
There is also cross-stigma, where neurological patients are stigmatized as psychiatric. Psychiatrists with neurologists are “cousins”. Many pathologies are studied by both specialists, they are dealt with by both. And often even the patients themselves get confused.
“The reason for the wrong conclusions is ignorance,” Dmitry Zanosov repeats. – For example, with most mental disorders, you can have children, many diseases are well treated and are not inherited. At the same time, no one excludes the appearance of mentally ill children in healthy parents and vice versa.
In the fight against stigmatization, psychoeducation and psychoactivism are of great importance
“The main problem is that people who do not understand the nature of psychiatric pathology stigmatize not only those around them, but also themselves,” says Mikhail Bazhmin. – And when it becomes necessary to seek help, they do not do this, because they think: “Well, am I crazy or something! No, I’m a normal person, I can handle it myself.”
Because of self-stigmatization, people are afraid that they will be fired from their jobs, that neighbors, acquaintances, even friends will treat them differently. As a result, this leads to the fact that patients either turn to a specialist late, or do not turn at all. Their quality of life suffers significantly.
In some cases, the results are tragic: there are suicides or crimes. That’s when the noise in the press begins: “Serial maniac, killer, crazy!” This, in turn, only exacerbates the stigma. Perhaps if the parents of this person had asked for help for their child in time, nothing would have happened.
All variants of stigmatization are harmful and even dangerous. But the only way to counter them is to give as much reliable, scientifically based information as possible.
How to deal with stigma
“All hope is that the fashion for psychological help will push those in need to turn to specialists. That they will learn who a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychologist are, what they are for, – Mikhail shares. “And that the fight for rights will finally touch those who have mental disorders. People will learn more and in this way stigmatization will decrease.”
Psychiatrist Dmitry Zanosov adds: “In the fight against stigmatization, psychoeducation and psychoactivism are of great importance. In my opinion, it is necessary to educate people at the state level. The average person has heard a lot about heart attack and asthma, heard something about diabetes and stroke and other somatic diseases and conditions.
But when it comes to mental disorders, it’s like a sacrament that “only the elite know about.” Which, by the way, opens the way for charlatans who exorcise spirits, remove damage and the evil eye, psychologists who “heal” from neurosis, calling everything by this term. Although psychopathology is not the subject of the study of psychology, and addressing the wrong person can be, at best, a waste of time.
As for psychoactivism, the psychiatrist continues, it is not only fashionable, but also extremely useful. This is done by bloggers who have a psychiatric diagnosis, and those who have sick relatives, friends, acquaintances. If society has enough information, new stigmas will not arise, and old ones will become a relic of the past. And everyone can contribute if they first try to follow their own speech and learn a little more about mental illness.
About the experts
Dmitry Zanosov – psychiatrist. Chief specialist of the mental health center “Empathy”. Instagram blog author .
Mikhail Bazhmin – a psychiatrist in a forensic psychiatric hospital. His .