More Than Mental Illness: Experiences of Associating with Stigma of Mental Illness for Chinese College Students

From existing empirical research, we identified that Chinese college students commonly experience stigma surrounding mental illness and found some factors that support them in resisting the stigma and achieving psychological health. However, less research provides qualitative data involving individual experiences and insights on mental illness within this group of college students. This study, based on ACE-LYNX (an internationally cooperative research-sharing project between China and Canada), was conducted in Shandong, Jinan, and aims to promote the mental health of college students by empowering interdisciplinary professionals and students. Through the research project, this study analyzed the materials from 24 focus groups, explored the understanding of mental illness and prevalence of mental illness stigma in Chinese colleges at the present time, administered a background questionnaire, and provided statistical support for some revealed themes. The final themes are as follows: mental illness is stereotyped as “severe, pathetic, and complicated”; the misconception of “visiting a psychological counselor is scary”; from public stigma to self-stigma; barriers deterring students from seeking help or accessing services; two sides of the same coin: peer support versus peer pressure.

Perspectives of university health care students on mental health stigma in Nigeria: Qualitative analysis

Mental illness is a significant public health burden in low- and middle-income countries. A wide treatment gap in mental health care exists within the Nigerian health care system and this gap is worsened by the presence of stigma associated with mental illness, which leads to delay in treatment or acts as a barrier to any care. In this study, our aim was to understand the factors that underlie mental illness stigma in order to inform the design of effective stigma-reducing interventions among health care students in Nigeria. We conducted four focus groups among university health care students in March 2019 in Nigeria. The students included nursing, pharmacy, and medical trainees from a university teaching hospital. We used an inductive-driven thematic analysis to identify codes and themes related to mental health stigma and conceptualization of mental health within the study group. Among the 40 participants, we identified how specific interpretations of religious and spiritual beliefs may be associated with stigmatizing behaviors such as social distancing and discrimination. Conceptualization of mental illness as a communicable disease and the attribution of mental illness to a moral failing contributed to stigma mechanisms. Overall, eight themes associated with mental health stigma and mental health-related concepts were found: spirituality, discrimination and devaluation, conceptualization of mental health, attribution theories, methods to reduce stigma, shortage of resources, violence and dangerousness, and maltreatment. We found that the co-existence of spiritual beliefs and biomedical and psychological models of mental health is a key factor to consider in the design of effective stigma-reducing interventions among university health students in Nigeria.

The role of moral explanations and structural inequalities in experiences of mental illness stigma in Northern Minas Gerais, Brazil

The process of stigmatization within different cultural contexts has long been viewed as essential in understanding the course and outcomes of mental illness. However, little research has examined which cultural constructs and categories are used to explain mental illness, and how they contribute to the way people with mental illness experience stigma and social exclusion, as well as how these beliefs affect healthcare practices. This study examines meanings ascribed to mental illness and experiences of stigma among four groups in urban settings of Minas Gerais, Brazil: persons with mental illness; their families; members of the lay public; and health professionals working at an alternative community-based psychosocial treatment service or a local university hospital. Qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and participant observation, were conducted with a purposive sample of 72 participants. Data were analyzed through content analysis. The findings suggest that stigma and discrimination are intrinsically rooted in a systemic process of social exclusion generated by meanings ascribed to mental illness and the structural vulnerabilities of the mental healthcare system. The findings further suggest that structural inequality is a powerful factor behind lay concepts of mental illness and that this is particularly harmful because it reinforces personal blame attributions instead of addressing the hidden structural forces that contribute to mental illness. The study highlights the subtle interrelations between cultural beliefs and structural vulnerabilities that should be addressed in mental health policy in order to diminish the effects of stigma on people with mental illnesses.

Stigma Attitudes Towards People with Mental Illness among Professionals Working in a Psychiatric Hospital

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.

Stigma Masyarakat Terhadap Gangguan Jiwa: Literature Review

Mental disorders are disorders that occur in the brain which are characterized by distrurbed behavior, thinking processes, emotions, and perceptions. The stigma attached to people with mental disorders is still a problem. The impact of stigma given to people with mental disorders can cause sufferers to lose self-esteem. This study aimed to determine the description of the social stigma of mental disorders in a literature review. This reseach was a literature review research. This articles found were searched from the online database, namely Pubmed. There were five articles that matched the research inclusion criteria. The total number of respondents was 1,874. Critical analysis of the articles used the Hawker instrumen. The results showed that there were four articles which have a negative stigma. Only one article had a positive stigma. The average score of the Authoritariansm aspect was 6.53. The average score of the Benevolence aspect was 6.27. The Social aspects Restrictiveness had an average value of 5.87. The average score of the CMHI was 5.73. Meanwhile, in the positive stigma article, the hight stigma value was 44.04% an the low stigma was 26.97%. Based on the results, it can be concluded that there are negative stigma results for people with mental disordesKeywords: Mental disorders; public; mental illnes; stigma AbstrakGangguan Jiwa adalah gangguan yang terjadi pada otak yang ditandai dengan terganggunya perilaku, proses berfikir, emosi, dan persepsi. Stigma yang melekat pada orang dengan gangguan jiwa masih menjadi suatu masalah. Dampak dari stigma yang diberikan pada orang dengan gangguan jiwa, dapat menyebabkan penderita kehilangan self esteem. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui gambaran stigma masyarakat terhadap gangguan jiwa secara literature review. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian literature review. Hasil pencarian artikel dari database online yaitu Pubmed yang didapatkan 5 artikel yang sesuai dengan kriteria inklusi penelitian, dengan hasil jumlah responden 1.874. Analisa telaah kritis terhadap 5 artikel menggunakan instrumen Hawker. Secara umum hasil analisa 4 artikel mempunyai stigma yang negatif dan 1 artikel mempunyai stigma yang positif dengan hasil analisa pada 4 artikel, aspekauthoritariansm dengan rata-rata nilai 6,53, aspek benevolencee dengan rata-rata nilai 6,27, aspek social restrictiveness dengan rata-rata nilai 5,87, dan aspek Community Mental Health Ideology (CMHI) dengan nilai rata-rata 5,73. Dan berdasarkan satu artikel didapatkan nilai stigma tinggi yaitu sebanyak 44.04% dan stigma rendah 26,97%. Hasil penelitian literature review ini menyimpulkan bahwa didapatkan hasil stigma yang negatif terhadap orang dengan gangguan jiwa.Kata Kunci :Gangguan jiwa, masyarakat, mental disorders, mental illness, stigma