“Mad, Sick, Head Nuh Good”: Mental Illness Stigma in Jamaican Communities

Abstract

Stigma may be an important factor in mental health service seeking and utilization. However, little work on stigma has been conducted in developing nations in the Caribbean, including Jamaica. We explored mental illness stigma in Jamaica by conducting focus groups with 16 community samples. Four overarching conceptual themes are discussed: (1) community members' definitions of stigma; (2) emotional responses towards those with mental illness, such as fear and love; (3) behavioral responses towards those with mental illness, including avoidance and cautious approach; and (4) perceptions of and beliefs about mental illness, including a distinction between "madness" and "mental illness."

“Head take you”: Causal attributions of mental illness in Jamaica

“…There was no discernible pattern by demographic group of a particular conceptualization or use of a specific term in response to the question "What causes mental illness?" We previously reported (Arthur et al, 2010) that some participants in the larger study appeared to make a distinction between "mental illness" and "madness," with "madness" referring to severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and "mental illness" referring to common mental disorders (CMD) such as depression. For a more thorough discussion of this finding, please see Arthur et al (2010).…”

“…A screening questionnaire was used to determine if a prospective participant had previous involvement with the mental health system or fell into one of the study's target groups. Research suggests that attitudes and beliefs about mental illness could potentially differ according to a number of demographic factors including age, gender, social class, and region (Arthur et al, 2010;Phelan & Link, 2004). As noted in Table 1, most participants were assigned to focus groups based on shared sociodemographic variables.…”

“…We explored stigma in Jamaica with community participant focus groups in a previous publication (Arthur et al, 2010). Corrigan and Watson (2004) suggest that blaming the individual as responsible for their illness can lead to anger toward individuals with mental illness, which can in turn lead to social avoidance, prejudice, and withholding of resources.…”

Opinions of Faculty Members Regarding Mental Illnesses and Patients

“…[1] Ruhsal sağlık lığını tehlikeye düşüren, sosyal izolasyona neden olan, utanç duygusu yaşatan bir durum; bir şeyin normal ya da standart kabul edilmediğini belirten bir imge olarak tanımlanmakta-dır. [4][5][6] Ruhsal sorunlu birey olarak etiketlenen kimsenin ruh hastası rolünü öğrenme ve benimsemeye teşvik edildiği, ayrıca toplumsal kurumların da bu etiketleme sürecine katkıda bulunduğu ve bu durumun sorunları çözmekten çok yeni sorunlar yarattığı bilinmektedir. Sağlık çalışanı dışında, öğretmenlerin, basın mensuplarının, öğrencilerin şizofreni gibi kronikleşme zemini olan hastalıklardaki damgalamasının sadece eğitim ya da bilgi eksikliğiyle açıklanamayacak kadar karmaşık bir sosyal olgu olduğunun unutulmaması gerekmektedir.…”

“…[2,3] Ruhsal hastalığı olan bireylerin duygu, düşünce ve davranışlarında ortaya çıkan değişiklikler çoğu kültürde normalden sapma olarak kabul edilir ve bu davranışlar genellikle toplum tarafından uygun bulunmaz, kabul görmez ve bir tür etiketlendirme yapılır. [3,4] Etiketlendirme (damgalama); bir birey ya da grubun saygın-…”