The Stigma of Mental Illness

The public continues to this day to emphasize the difference between Mental and Physial Health People see mental and physical as separate functions when mental functions are physical as well Mental functions are carried out by the brain mental disorders are reflected in physical changes in the brain Physical changes in the brain often trigger physical changes in other parts of the body too. The racing heart, dry mouth, and sweaty palms that accompany a terrifying nightmare are created by the brain. A nightmare is a mental state caused by chemical changes in the brain which esults in physial symptoms
Mental health refers to the successful performance of mental functions in terms of thought, mood, and behavior. Mental disorders are conditions in which alterations in mental functions arepresent The brain carries out all mental functions, it also carries out some physical functions, such as movement, touch, and balance. That is why not all brain diseases are mental disorders. A stroke causes a lesion in the brain that may produce disturbances of movement, such as paralysis When such symptoms occur they are physical but caused by the brain But when dementia caused by a strok produces alterations of thought, mood, or behavior, it is considered a mental condition
Stigmatization of people with mental disorders has persisted throughout history. Bias, distrust, stereotyping, fear, embarrassment, anger, and/or avoidance exists. Stigma leads others to avoid living, socializing or working with, renting to, or employing people with mental disorders, especially severe disorders such as schizophrenia It reduces patient access to resources and opportunities and leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness. Stigma results in discrimination and abuse. It deprives people of their dignity and interferes with their full participation in socirty
　
　
　
In colonial times in t he United States, people with mental illness were described as lunatics. They lived with and cared for by families. There was no public agencies to treat mental illness until urbanization in the early 19th century created a problem in society for families in small rural communities. Asylums where persons with mental illness were treated with the treatments of the era. Throughout the history of institutionalization in asylums where reformers worked to improve treatment and stop abuse. This reform continued up to in the deinstitutionalization movement that began in the 1950s and ended in shifting patients and care to the community.
　
Public attitudes about mental illness since the 1950s shifted to the moral and humane. Over time, several surveys of the 1970s and the 1990s brought about changes exactly as they had been in the 1950s .
In the 1950s, the public viewed mental illness as a stigmatized condition and displayed an no real understanding of mental illness. Typically the public was not able to identify individuals as mentally ill when presented with individuals who would have been said to be mentally ill according to the professionals The public was unable to distinguish mental illness from ordinary unhappiness and worry and more than likely they saw only extreme forms of behavior as mental illness. Mental illness was a social stigma, looked upon with fear of unpredictable and violent behavior.
By 1996, Americans had achieved greater scientific understanding of mental illness. But the knowledge did not change the social stigma. The public learned to about mental illness and could distinguish it from ordinary worry and unhappiness. It gained an understanding of mental illness to include anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders. Unfortunaty to the public mental illness was a mix of biological abnormalities and social and psychological stress Compar with the 1950s, the public’s perception of mental illness was associated more with violent behavior. Half of those questioned of a group study placed violence in its descriptions of mental illness. The publics perception of people with psychosis as being dangerous is stronger today than in the past.
The public was more likely to say that an individual with schizophrenia as having a mental illness than a person suffering from depression
Why is stigma so strong despite better public understanding of mental illness?
This Are people with mental disorders truly more violent? The greatest risk of violence is from those who have dual diagnoses individuals who have a mental disorder as well as a substance abuse disorder. There is a small elevation in risk of violence from individuals with severe mental disorders especially if they are noncompliant with their medication. Yet the risk of violence is much less for a stranger than for a family member or person who is known to the person with mental illness There is very little risk of violence or harm to a stranger from casual contact with an individual who has a mental disorder.
Because most people should have little reason to fear violence from those with mental illness. The public’s stereotypes linking violence and mental illness and encouraged people to distance themselves from those with mental disorders Deinstitutionalization made this distance less likely. Deinstitutionalization expected stigma to be reduced with community care and commonplace exposure. Stigma might have been greater today had not public education resulted in a more scientific understanding of mental illness.
Approximately only one third of all people with diagnosable mental disorders seek treatment Stigma surrounding the mental health treatment is discourages people from seeking treatment. Concern about stigma is heightened in rural areas in relation to larger towns or cities. Stigma also affects certain age groups.
Evolving public attitudes about how people would cope with, and seek treatment for, mental illness if they became symptomatic. (The term "nervous breakdown became prominate instead of mental illness and people were likelier than in the past to approach mental illness by coping with, rather than by avoiding, the problem. Informal social supports, self-help groups. Those who now sought professional support preferred counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
　
The publics willingness to pay for mental health treatment, through insurance, seems to carry a willingness to pay for insurance coverage for individuals with severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression, rather than for less severe conditions. The public generally appears to support paying for treatment, its support diminishes upon the realization that higher taxes or premiums would be necessary. The public generally ranks insurance coverage for mental disorders below that for physical disorders.
　
There is no simple or single way to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness. Stigma was expected to stop with increased knowledge of mental illness, but stigma in some ways intensified over the past 40 years even though understanding improved.