The Effects of Stigma

For the disabled, the disadvantages of stigma outweigh the advantages and benefits that they may get. People who have stigmatized diseases are often discriminated against in the healthcare system and receive less social support. These can include mental disorders, AIDS, leprosy, or certain skin diseases. Stigma will not only reduce the value of a person with an illness, but also their family, the people treating them, and the people supporting them (Turan).

Mental illnesses are highly stigmatized in many parts of the world and are often looked down upon by even healthcare providers. We can see this in the reluctance of many hospitals to build psychiatry centers, or when the government deliberately gives mental health research less funding. Stigma often leads people to have certain feelings about those with stigmatized conditions, including fear, mistrust, prejudice, and sometimes leading to violence (Gluck).

Perceived community stigma often leads to internalized stigma, which can lead to anticipated community stigma and then lower medication adherence (Sartorius). As a result, people with stigmatized conditions will often find themselves believing what other people say about them and resisting treatment because they either don’t believe it will work or because they believe it’s their fault. This can cause extreme consequences that can negatively impact both the physical and mental life of a person (Sartorius).

Recently, awareness has been rising regarding the effects of stigmatizing mental disorders and the effects it has on the people with them left untreated. Still, people are often unaware of their words and their effects. When someone says a person “committed suicide” rather than “took their own life” it places the blame on the person, who did not have to be the one blamed. This not only has a negative effect on the image of a person after they die but if they had certain problems during their lives, society is quick to blame them for not being able to take care of it themselves. Because of this, a person is more likely to take his or her life on the basis that they are useless and untreatable.  A person who has been stigmatized can feel fear, self-stigmatize, and even delay seeking medical attention or endure discrimination against themselves (Gluck). These are negative practices that can endanger someone’s life. Not only are they dealing with their own illness, but they have an added hardship on top of that.

Stigma and discrimination are found often within the healthcare system, in media, in communities, and in research. It is important that healthcare providers revise their own doing and work with each other to reduce the stigma that they help place on their own patients and people seeking medical attention (Turan). It is also important for the media to fix their reporting and representation of stigmatized illness to help those in need. In this way, more people that are in need of medical help can willingly seek it and receive effective treatment.

References: 

Gluck, Samantha. “Stigma and Discrimination: The Effect of Stigma - Stand Up for Mental Health - Stigma.” HealthyPlace, www.healthyplace.com/stigma/stand-up-for-mental-health/stigma-and-discrimination-the-effect-of-stigma/.

Sartorius, Norman. Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2080544/.

Turan, Bulent, et al. Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5143223/.