Stigma of mental illness and substance misuse in sub‐Saharan African migrants: A qualitative study

Abstract

Stigma of mental illness and substance misuse can deter help seeking, especially in immigrants who are often reluctant to seek help early for these issues. The aim of the present study was to explore the stigma experience surrounding mental illness and substance misuse, and its implications for improving help seeking, for youths and parents from sub-Saharan African immigrant communities. A qualitative, descriptive design was used. Individual interviews were undertaken with 28 youths, and focus group discussions were held with 41 parents and community leaders in Melbourne, Australia. The findings indicated that public stigma and self-stigma were common and deterred participants' help seeking within sub-Saharan African communities. There was concern about the consequences of disclosure. Personal shame, fear of community rejection, and being labelled a 'lunatic' deterred help seeking. Programmes are needed to address stigma, promote help seeking, and increase mental health knowledge. Mental health nurses and other clinicians in the mental health and alcohol and other drug fields can make an important contribution. Steps are needed to employ more sub-Saharan African immigrant clinicians to help increase help seeking from their communities.

Barriers to accessing preventive health care among African-born individuals in King County, Washington: A qualitative study involving key informants

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A qualitative study on the stigma experienced by people with mental health problems and epilepsy in the Philippines

“…Such research revealed that the general public frequently label PMHP as dangerous, blameworthy, incompetent and weak, which is often accompanied with emotions of fear and anger and can lead to behavioural intention of avoidance, punishment, and coercion [ 9 – 12 ]. Further, the literature shows that internalisation of public stigma or self-stigma is also frequent among PMHP, which reduces self-esteem, causes social isolation, and inhibits help-seeking behaviour [ 6 , 13 – 15 ].…”

A Functional Network Perspective on Posttraumatic Stress in Refugees: Implications for Theory, Classification, Assessment, and Intervention

“…Furthermore, this was a highly selected, convenience sample with the well-documented limitations for generalizability of such sampling methods (Schlenger, Jordan, Caddell, Ebert, & Fairbank, 2004). Indeed, only a small fraction of forcibly displaced persons receive any mental health treatment, because they often face socio-cultural stigma and limited access to health services in high- and low-income countries (McCann, Renzaho, Mugavin, & Lubman, 2018; Miller & Rasco, 2004). Likewise, limited range and variability of symptoms among treatment seekers may systematically limit the generalizability of such network data.…”