Mental Illness Stigma, Help Seeking, and Public Health Programs

Abstract

Globally, more than 70% of people with mental illness receive no treatment from health care staff. Evidence suggests that factors increasing the likelihood of treatment avoidance or delay before presenting for care include (1) lack of knowledge to identify features of mental illnesses, (2) ignorance about how to access treatment, (3) prejudice against people who have mental illness, and (4) expectation of discrimination against people diagnosed with mental illness. In this article, we reviewed the evidence on whether large-scale anti-stigma campaigns could lead to increased levels of help seeking.

Contrasting Views of the Post-bariatric Surgery Experience between Patients and their Practitioners: a Qualitative Study

“…However, this may be a feature of this particular regional service. From a psychological context, literature shows that psychological illness mitigates against help seeking [35], more so in the context of obesity where stigma is rife [36,37]. As such, the ability to pick up struggling patients by waiting for them to ask for help is questionable.…”

Attitudes towards the people with mental illness: comparison between Czech medical doctors and general population

“…This is of particular concern as it has been demonstrated that stigmatizing attitudes in this group can lead to diagnostic overshadowing [11] and consequent worsening of physical health care for those with mental health problems [12,13]. Perceived stigma of health care professionals among individuals with mental illness may also reduce willingness to seek help by those who need it [14].…”

Beliefs, stigma and discrimination associated with mental health problems in Uganda: Implications for theory and practice

“…Link and Phelan's (2001) modified labelling theory outlines the co-occurrence of labelling, stereotyping, separation, status loss and discrimination and the fact that social, economic and political power is necessary to stigmatise. Mental health sStigma relating to mental health problems is associated with substantial societal burden (Evans-Lacko, Henderson and Thornicroft 2013) and occurs can therefore be viewed as occurring at a range of levels including self, family, community, and structural discrimination (Corrigan et al, 2004). For example, stigma results in people with mental health problems receiving poor treatment from health care staff (Henderson, EvansLacko and Thornicroft 2013).…”