Search results for ‘Subject term:"mental health problems"’ Sort:
Results 11 - 17 of 17
What motivates public support for legally mandated mental health treatment?
- Authors:
- WATSON Amy C., CORRIGAN Patrick W., ANGELL Beth
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Research, 29(2), June 2005, pp.87-94.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The use of legal coercion to compel individuals to participate in mental health treatment is expanding despite a lack of empirical support for many of its forms. Policies supporting mandated treatment are made by legislators and judges, often based on perceptions of public concern. Using sample data of 1,444 people from the MacArthur Mental Health Module contained in the 1996 General Social Survey, the authors examined the impact of political ideology, attributions about the cause of mental illness, and perceptions of dangerousness in determining public support for legally mandated mental health treatment in the USA. Perceived dangerousness and attributions about the cause of the mental disorder were significant predictors of support for legally mandated treatment. Conservative political ideology was related to attributing the vignette problem to bad character, indirectly affecting support for legal coercion.
Stigmatizing attitudes about mental illness and allocation of resources to mental health services
- Authors:
- CORRIGAN Patrick W., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 40(4), August 2004, pp.297-307.
- Publisher:
- Springer
This study tests a social psychological model stating that policy maker decisions regarding the allocation of resources to mental health services are influenced by their attitudes towards people with mental illness and treatment efficacy. Fifty four individuals participated in a larger study of education about mental health stigma. Participants completed various measures of resource allocation preferences for mandated treatment and rehabilitation services, attributions about people with mental illness, and factors that influence allocation preferences including perceived treatment efficacy. Results showed significant attitudinal correlates with resource allocation preferences for mandated treatment, but no correlates to rehabilitation services. In particular, people who pity people with mental illness as well as those that endorse coercive and segregated treatments, were more likely to rate resource allocation to mandated care as important. Perceived treatment efficacy was also positively associated with resource allocation preferences for mandated treatment. A separate behavioral measure that involved donating money to NAMI was found to be inversely associated with blaming people for their mental illness and not being willing to help them. Implications of these findings on strategies that seek to increase resources for mental health programmes are discussed.
Social support and recovery in people with serious mental illnesses
- Authors:
- CORRIGAN Patrick W., PHELAN Sean M.
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 40(6), December 2004, pp.513-523.
- Publisher:
- Springer
This study examines the relationship between objective and subjective measures of social support with recovery from serious mental illness; recovery has been described as both an outcome state and an ongoing process. One hundred and seventy six people with serious mental illness completed the Recovery Assessment Scale, a process measure of recovery that assessed, among other factors, personal confidence, goal orientation, and non-domination by symptoms. They also were administered the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, a semi-structured interview that assesses psychiatric symptom and represents recovery as an outcome. Finally, research participants completed the Social Network Scale, which assessed size of the overall network plus such important subnetworks as family, friends, and health professionals. The SNS also provided measures of the perceived satisfaction with, mutuality in, and obligation towards individuals in their support network. Results showed people with larger overall network size and more network satisfaction were likely to report higher factors on the Recovery Assessment Scale. For the most part, network size and satisfaction was not significantly associated with psychiatric symptoms. Implications of these findings for better understanding the association between social support and recovery are discussed.
Shame, blame, and contamination: A review of the impact of mental illness stigma on family members
- Authors:
- CORRIGAN Patrick W., MILLER Frederick E.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 13(6), December 2004, pp.537-548.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
In his classic text, Goffman defined courtesy stigma as the negative impact that results from association with a person who is marked by a stigma. Family members of relatives with mental illness are frequently harmed by this kind of stigma. Using a social cognitive model of mental illness stigma, the authors review ways in which various family roles (e.g., parents, siblings, spouses) are impacted by family stigma. The authors distinguish between public stigma (the impact wrought by subsets of the general population that prejudge and discriminate against family members) and vicarious stigma (suffering the stigma experienced by relatives with mental illness). Results of our review suggest parents are blamed for causing their child's mental illness, siblings and spouses are blamed for not assuring that relatives with mental illness adhere to treatment plans, and children are fearful of being contaminated by the mental illness of their father or mother. The current body of literature suggests several important directions for future research including identification of stereotypes in addition to shame, blame, and contamination that harm family members; developing rigorous research methods that validate the link between stigmatizing attitudes and discriminatory behaviours; and testing programs that help to erase the various manifestations of family stigma.
Stigma and disclosure: Implications for coming out of the closet
- Authors:
- CORRIGAN Patrick W., MATTHEWS Alicia K.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 12(3), June 2003, pp.235-248.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
There are costs and benefits for people with psychiatric disorders to decide to disclose publicly these disorders. The gay and lesbian community has struggled with the same tension and their discoveries about coming out may prove useful for the disclosure concerns of persons with mental illness. Lessons learned about coming out by the gay and lesbian community include a variety of models that map the stages for successfully coming out; e.g., identity confusion, comparison, identify acceptance, immersion, and identity synthesis. Navigating these stages requires consideration of the costs and benefits of disclosure; we review some of these including social avoidance and disapproval as key costs and improved psychological well-being and interpersonal relations as benefits. The paper ends with a review of levels of disclosure for people who opt to come out.
Some recovery processes in mutual-help groups for persons with mental illness: qualitative analysis of program materials and testimonies
- Authors:
- CORRIGAN Patrick W., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Community Mental Health Journal, 38(4), August 2002, pp.287-301.
- Publisher:
- Springer
Outcome research is beginning to suggest that mutual-help programs lead to significant improvements in the quality of life and related factors of members who have serious mental illness. This article examines recovery processes that may account for these positive outcomes. A content analysis was completed on one dimension of the written program for GROW, a mutual-help program with more than 40 years of experience. Thirteen reliable recovery processes emerged from this analysis; most prominent among these was to “be reasonable” and to “decentralise from self by participating in community.”
Recovery in mental illness: broadening our understanding of wellness
- Editors:
- RALPH Ruth O., CORRIGAN Patrick W.
- Publisher:
- American Psychological Association
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 282p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Washington, DC
In the early 20th century, when the course of serious illness was first described, scientists offered little hope of recovery for people diagnosed with illnesses like schizophrenia. They were told to expect only continuing psychotic symptoms and progressive dementia and were given no hope of working and living independently. Since then, research has suggested more positive outcomes. This book explores what recovery means from various perspectives, including sociological models as well as qualitative studies that incorporate mental health consumers' subjective experiences. The mental health professional seeking to better understand the nature of recovery as well as what interventions and services might enhance well being and quality of life, will find a discussion of recovery as process, outcome, and natural occurrence, and an examination of evidence-based services as well as consumer-endorsed practices that may not be measurable by traditional quantitative methodologies.