A growing body of research suggests that the way people explain mental health struggles influences the level of stigma toward those diagnosed with psychiatric conditions. A new study published in Current Psychology adds to this debate, showing that biological and hereditary explanations for mental illness are linked to increased stigma, while attributing mental health challenges to sociopolitical turmoil is associated with decreased stigma.
Conducted by Leigh Huggard and Cliódhna O’Connor of University College Dublin, the study finds that different explanations for mental health conditions—ranging from life circumstances to relational challenges to biological causes—carry different implications for how people perceive those with psychiatric diagnoses. The authors write:
“The various social attributions measured showed significant differences in their relationships with stigma. Attributions to life circumstances, violence/abuse and relational challenges were unrelated to social distance. Attributions to sociopolitical turmoil, however, predicted lower desire for social distance from people with mental illness … the study found that attributions to heredity/biological factors were associated with greater desire for social distance from people with mental illness.”
While previous research has shown that social explanations for mental illness can reduce stigma, this study adds nuance by revealing that not all social attributions have the same effect. Only explanations that emphasized political and economic instability were associated with reduced stigma, while other social explanations—such as life circumstances, violence, or relational challenges—showed no impact on how participants viewed those with psychiatric diagnoses.
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Richard you are on fire……keep it up.
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Bolapro merupakan bandar bola resmi dan official partner piala dunia memberikan bursa taruhan bola terlengkap dan terbaik di dunia.
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Not sure why we cooperate with people taught or teaching there is a stigma to mental health issues, invigorating their voice, but I recall several instances from the past where people followed that same path. Rape stigma stands out, we held to that path for generations before surrendering it. AIDs stigma ruled many minds for a shorter time, but we eventually overcame the need to express that version. And there is the indelible history of Jew stigma in WWII Germany and its costs.
And all the while there were people supporting each of those there were those who did not.
We can learn from them.
Harold A Maio
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There is a vast difference between there is a stigma nd there are people taught and teaching there is. It is wise to note that difference.
Harold A Maio
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“A growing body of research suggests that the way people explain mental health struggles influences the level of stigma toward those diagnosed with psychiatric conditions” – you never needed research to confirm this – all you had to do was observe that the way we explain mental health struggles and the stigma towards those diagnosed are part of the same total phenomena rooted in the social and professional conditioning with the dominant ideas around what you call mental illness. Obviously the way we see mental illness influences feelings toward people with mental illness and the fact that you actually think we need research to support what is self-evident to perception is proof of the destruction of social intelligence by the intellect. I don’t care if you don’t understand what I’m saying because pretty much most of us have brains utterly ruined by our social conditioning anyway, and only a hefty confrontation with the truth could possibly do anything to help you. So don’t throw your axes at the messenger. After all he can then redeploy them against you, and you’d then be just a pack of cards.
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The fact that they defined stigma as “desire for social distance” and nothing more, is a huge limitation that renders their conclusions about stigma wrong. They did not measure stigma, they measured desire for social distance. Additionally, they measured desire for social distance by asking questions such as whether or not someone would want to rent out a room in their house to someone with schizophrenia. The problem with this is the owner would have no way of knowing if the potential tenant had active episodes of psychosis or not, and so would likely be worried that the tenant might cause a disruption while in psychosis. People are generally very intolerant of other people’s distress and of anything that could be seen as a disruption, and without understanding that schizophrenia is a genuine neurological condition, people will be quite unempathetic to someone they see as causing disruption without a valid reason. If someone with cancer caused the same disruption, they would receive a lot more support and empathy as people know that cancer is a genuine medical condition. So to reduce stigma towards people with schizophrenia and increase empathy towards us, people need education about the scientific research which shows that schizophrenia is a thalamic disorder (the thalamus is a part of the brain responsible for sensory processing). It’s very unfortunate that neuroscience is virtually always absent from discussions about schizophrenia, despite pseudoscience masquerading as science often being present (eg inaccurate and vague statements about a so called chemical imbalance or false claims that biological factors only play a role in its development).
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You are talking about prejudice. That’s why I hate the word “stigma,” it minimizes the intent and the damage done to people.
You should know that viewing “mental illness” as a biological condition has been shown in multiple studies to INCREASE prejudice and decrease empathy for the “mentally ill” persons.
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The only reason that “stigma” is a concern to the mental health system is because they want more customers.
The problem is that neither biology nor sociopolitical turmoil cause real mental illness. Biology can be responsible for neurological problems. And turmoil can be very trying for individuals and groups. But if you are suffering because there is someone or something around making you suffer, that’s not real mental illness. That’s just a bad situation that needs to be remedied.
The mental health system should not have the burden of all the petty and not-so-petty injustices of living on Earth on its shoulders to solve. Its job is to handle real irrational responses to life, not rational ones. It currently doesn’t have a clue how to be effective at this job. And pushing off the responsibility to biology or social forces won’t help.
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