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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.