scholarly journals Mental illness stigma research in Argentina

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Agrest ◽  
Franco Mascayano ◽  
Sara Elena Ardila-Gómez ◽  
Ariel Abeldaño ◽  
Ruth Fernandez ◽  
...  

Studies regarding stigma towards mental illness in Argentina blossomed after the first National Mental Health Law was passed in 2010. Methodological limitations and contradictory results regarding community perceptions of stigma hinder comparisons across domestic and international contexts but some lessons may still be gleaned. We examine this research and derive recommendations for future research and actions to reduce stigma. These include tackling culture-specific aspects of stigma, increasing education of the general population, making more community-based services available and exposing mental health professionals to people with mental illness who are on community paths to recovery.

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Picco ◽  
E. Abdin ◽  
S. Pang ◽  
J. A. Vaingankar ◽  
A. Jeyagurunathan ◽  
...  

Aims.The ability to recognise a mental illness has important implications as it can aid in timely and appropriate help-seeking, and ultimately improve outcomes for people with mental illness. This study aims to explore the association between recognition and help-seeking preferences and stigmatising attitudes, for alcohol abuse, dementia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia, using a vignette-based approach.Methods.This was a population-based, cross-sectional survey conducted among Singapore Residents (n = 3006) aged 18–65 years. All respondents were asked what they think is wrong with the person in the vignette and who they should seek help from. Respondents were also administered the Personal and Perceived sub scales of the Depression Stigma Scale and the Social Distance Scale. Weighted frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical variables. A series of multiple logistic and linear regression models were performed separately by vignette to generate odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the relationship between help-seeking preference, and recognition and beta coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for the relationship between stigma and recognition.Results.Correct recognition was associated with less preference to seek help from family and friends for depression and schizophrenia. Recognition was also associated with increased odds of endorsing seeking help from a psychiatric hospital for dementia, depression and schizophrenia, while there was also an increased preference to seek help from a psychologist and psychiatrist for depression. Recognition was associated with less personal and perceived stigma for OCD and less personal stigma for schizophrenia, however, increased odds of social distancing for dementia.Conclusion.The ability to correctly recognise a mental illness was associated with less preference to seek help from informal sources, whilst increased preference to seek help from mental health professionals and services and less personal and perceived stigma. These findings re-emphasise the need to improve mental health literacy and reinforce the potential benefits recognition can have to individuals and the wider community in Singapore.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 948-965
Author(s):  
Megan Woods ◽  
Rob Macklin ◽  
Sarah Dawkins ◽  
Angela Martin

Workplace conditions and experiences powerfully influence mental health and individuals experiencing mental illness, including the extent to which people experiencing mental ill-health are ‘disabled’ by their work environments. This article explains how examination of the social suffering experienced in workplaces by people with mental illness could enhance understanding of the inter-relationships between mental health and workplace conditions, including experiences and characteristics of the overarching labour process. It examines how workplace perceptions and narratives around mental illness act as discursive resources to influence the social realities of people with mental ill-health. It applies Labour Process Theory to highlight how such discursive resources could be used by workers and employers to influence the power, agency and control in workplace environments and the labour process, and the implications such attempts might have for social suffering. It concludes with an agenda for future research exploring these issues.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Patterson ◽  
Pauline Ford

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to inform education of non-mental health professionals who provide care to people with severe mental illness; to describe dentistry students’ knowledge and views about mental illness, including willingness to engage in various social situations with a person hospitalised for mental illness; and to assess and understand the impact of a targeted lecture on views and attitudes. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed mixed methods to examine dental students’ knowledge and views about mental disorder before and after a seminar covering mental disorder, disadvantage and oral health. Findings from a bespoke questionnaire administered to third-year dental students were triangulated with qualitative data gathered in interviews with a subsample. Findings – Students understood mental disorder broadly, employing diverse causal models. Although knowledge was typically grounded in media stereotypes, attitudes were benevolent and most students reported willingness to provide dental care to affected individuals. The seminar, especially the consumer delivered section, was valued and associated with increased appreciation of the impact of mental disorder on oral health and need for assertive action to promote access to care. However, students reported being reluctant to disclose their own mental health problems for fear of being considered a professional or personal failure. A minority knew how to seek support if a friend talked of suicide. Research limitations/implications – This study highlights the need for further investigation of the knowledge and attitudes of dentistry students pertinent to provision of care to people with mental illness and to examine the links between attitudes and practice. The paper also provides a useful foundation for development of brief educational interventions, particularly the value in integrating the service user perspective, and their evaluation. Research should also examine the impact of mental health education on practice. Practical implications – A single inexpensive educational session, such as the one the paper developed may support reconsideration of often unconscious views of mental illness which might affect practice. Social implications – If people with mental illness are to receive equitable access to health care, non-mental health professionals should be supported to develop knowledge and attitudes which are conducive to inclusive treatment. An education session such as this could be helpful. Originality/value – There is scant literature examining attitudes of dentistry students and no reports of mental health-specific education with this population.


Author(s):  
Anne E. Parsons

This chapter explores how in the 1940s, mental hospitals comprised land, buildings, and workforces used by the states to feed and house hundreds of thousands of people. Conscientious objectors who did service work at mental hospitals in lieu of military conscription founded the National Mental Health Foundation. They also collaborated with journalists to craft exposés about concentration camp–like conditions in hospitals. The author and former patient Mary Jane Ward published her book The Snake Pit, in which she argued against the loss of freedom that people with mental illness experienced. Policy makers responded to this anti-institutionalism by implementing mental health reforms that made hospitals larger and more therapeutic, and kept involuntary commitments intact. These initiatives made up the early stages of deinstitutionalization.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Jackson ◽  
Boyce Felstead ◽  
Jahar Bhowmik ◽  
Rachel Avery ◽  
Rhonda Nelson-Hearity

The poorer health outcomes experienced by people with mental illness have led to new directions in policy for routine physical health screening of service users. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the physical health needs of consumers of alcohol and other drug (AOD) services, despite a similar disparity in physical health outcomes compared with the general population. The majority of people with problematic AOD use have comorbid mental illness, known as a dual diagnosis, likely to exacerbate their vulnerability to poor physical health. With the potential for physical health screening to improve health outcomes for AOD clients, a need exists for systematic identification and management of common health conditions. Within the current health service system, those with a dual diagnosis are more likely to have their physical health surveyed and responded to if they present for treatment in the mental health system. In this study, a physical health screening tool was administered to clients attending a community-based AOD service. The tool was administered by a counsellor during the initial phase of treatment, and referrals to health professionals were made as appropriate. Findings are discussed in terms of prevalence, types of problems identified and subsequent rates of referral. The results corroborate the known link between mental and physical ill health, and contribute to developing evidence that AOD clients present with equally concerning physical ill health to that of mental health clients and should equally be screened for such when presenting for AOD treatment.


Author(s):  
Muhamad Taufik Hidayat ◽  
Sharon Lawn ◽  
Eimear Muir-Cochrane ◽  
Candice Oster

Abstract Background Pasung is the term used in Indonesia and a number of other countries for seclusion and restraint of people with mental illness in the community, usually at home by their family. While pasung has been banned because it is contrary to human rights, its practice continues to exist within the community, particularly where community mental health services are limited, and in the absence of adequate social support, and pervasive negatives beliefs about mental illness. It is essential to understand the reasons for the ongoing use of pasung and to examine potential solutions. Methods A systematic review and narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed international literature was conducted to identify the socio-cultural contexts for pasung use, and interventions to address it. The analysis draws on the socio-ecological framework, which focused on relationships between the individual and their environment. Result Fifty published articles were included in the review; all studies were conducted in Asia and Africa, with 32 undertaken in Indonesia. Most studies were qualitative (n = 21). Others included one case–control study, one cross-sectional study, and seven surveys; only four studies examined the application of an intervention, and each used a pre and post methodology. Of these, two studies tested psychoeducational interventions which aimed to overcome family burden due to pasung, and each suggested a community mental health approach. The remaining two studies evaluated the intervention of ‘unlocking’; one study used a community-based culturally sensitive approach, and the other used a community-based rehabilitation program. Reasons for pasung given by family appear to be as a last resort and in the absence of other supports to help them care for the person with severe mental illness. Conclusion The findings highlight that a mixture of individual, interpersonal, community and policy interventions are needed to reduce the use of pasung. While consumer and carer involvement as part of a socio-ecological approach is understood to be effective in reducing pasung, an understanding of how to elaborate this in the management of pasung remains elusive. Review Registration CRD42020157543: CRD


Author(s):  
Mariana Silva ◽  
Sandra Nascimento ◽  
Tiago Pereira ◽  
Beatriz Lourenço ◽  
Miguel Nascimento ◽  
...  

Introduction: Mental illness stigma studies demonstrate the presence of stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental illness both by the public and health professionals. This study aimed to analyze the attitudes of professionals working at a Portuguese psychiatric hospital towards people with mental illness. Material and Methods: A cross‑sectional observational study was conducted to examine the attitudes of professionals through application of Mental Illness Clinician Attitude Scale (MICA) and collection of sociodemographic data. Results: Scores of MICA questionnaire were significantly lower than the cut‑off point for negative attitude in general and across professional categories suggesting that overall professionals seem to manifest a positive attitude towards people with mental illness. There was a trend of decrease in MICA scores throughout increasing years of professional experience although not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results do not contradict the need to continue fighting stigma, but instead to better evaluate how these attitudes translate into practice, by including behavioral outcomes in future research.


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