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Mental health issues and the media: an introduction for health professionals
- Author:
- MORRIS Gary
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 259p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Ideas about mental health and illness can be informed by personal experiences but are most often formed by the prevailing attitudes of society. A wide range of contemporary media help create these attitudes and for all health professionals the ways in which they do so are of immediate concern. Health professionals need to: be aware of media influences on their own perceptions and attitudes; take account of both the negative and positive aspects of media intervention in mental health promotion and public education; and understand the way in which all interact with media messages and how this affects both practitioners and service users
DSM-V and the stigma of mental illness
- Authors:
- BEN-ZEEV Dror, YOUNG Michael A., CORRIGAN Patrick W.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 19(4), August 2010, pp.318-327.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
The relationship between diagnostic labels and stigma is examined in the context of the forthcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). Three types of negative outcome are considered in detail: public stigma, the phenomenon of large social groups endorsing stereotypes about, and subsequently acting against a stigmatised group; self stigma, the loss of self-esteem and self-efficacy that occurs when people internalise public stigma; and label avoidance, when sufferers do not seek out or participate in mental health services in order to avoid the impact of a stigmatised label. The authors illustrate how a clinical diagnosis may exacerbate these forms of stigma through socio-cognitive processes of groupness, homogeneity and stability. Initial draft revisions recently proposed by the DSM-V work groups are briefly discussed from the framework of mental illness stigma. The authors believe that the initial drafts of DSM-V show a trend of greater transparency and movement toward more dimensional approaches to diagnosis which may help reduce stigma in the future, but also include several proposals that may have a negative impact on stigma.
Racial differences in attitudes toward professional mental health treatment: the mediating effect of stigma
- Authors:
- CONNER Kyaien O., KOESKE Gary, BROWN Charlotte
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52(7), October 2009, pp.695-712.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Empirical research suggests that the stigma of mental illness may exert an adverse influence on attitudes to mental health treatment and service use by individuals with a mental illness, particularly African Americans. However, there has been little research into the impact of stigma on racial differences in attitudes to seeking mental health treatment. This study examined the hypothesis that stigma partially mediates the relationship between race and attitudes to mental health treatment in a community-based sample of 101 African American and White older adults. Controlling for socio-demographic factors, African American older adults were more likely to have negative attitudes to mental health treatment, and they also reported more public and internalised stigma than their White counterparts. As hypothesised, the relationship between race and attitudes toward mental health treatment was partially mediated by internalised stigma, suggesting that internalised stigma may cause older adults to develop negative attitudes about mental health treatment. The partial mediation model was not significant for public stigma, however. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.
Promoting the public's mental health: a changing mentality: conference report: Tuesday 20th September 2005, Paragon Hotel, Birmingham
- Author:
- SAINSBURY CENTRE FOR MENTAL HEALTH
- Publisher:
- Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 26p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The use of emotions and labelling has been shown to encourage people to consider their own feelings and it challenges potential stereotypes which they may hold. It promotes mental health as a fact of life, something common to us all as human beings. It normalises mental health issues and therefore can help to shift attitudes and challenge stigma and discrimination. This juxtaposition of feelings/labels against an image has proven to be effective and engaging with all age groups and it is a treatment that was welcomed by those who have experienced mental health problems as well as those working in mental health and of course the target audience, the general public.
Stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness among racial/ethnic older adults in primary care
- Authors:
- JIMENEZ Daniel E., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(10), 2013, pp.1061-1068.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study examines to what extent race/ethnicity is associated with differences in perceived stigma of mental illness and perceived stigma for different mental health treatment options. Analyses were conducted using baseline data collected from participants who completed the SAMHSA Mental Health and Alcohol Abuse Stigma Assessment, developed for the PRISM-E (Primary Care Research in Substance Abuse and Mental Health for the Elderly) study, a multisite randomized trial for older adults (65+ years) with depression, anxiety, or at-risk alcohol consumption. The final sample consisted of 1247 non-Latino Whites, 536 African-Americans, 112 Asian-Americans, and 303 Latinos from across the USA. African-Americans and Latinos expressed greater comfort in speaking to primary care physicians or mental health professionals concerning mental illness compared with non-Latino Whites. Asian-Americans and Latinos expressed greater shame and embarrassment about having a mental illness than non-Latino Whites. Asian-Americans expressed greater difficulty in seeking or engaging in mental health treatment. The study concludes that racial/ethnic differences exist among older adults with mental illness with respect to stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness and mental health treatment. The results could help researchers and clinicians educate racial/ethnic minority older adults about mental illness and engage them in much needed mental health services. (Edited publisher abstract)
Attitudes towards mental disorders and emotional empathy in mental health and other healthcare professionals
- Authors:
- GATESHILL Georgina, KUCHARSKA-PIETURA Kate, WATTIS John
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatrist (The), 35(3), March 2011, pp.101-105.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
The attitudes of professionals working in psychiatry towards mental disorders were compared with those of professionals working in other areas of medicine. Differences in emotional empathy between the groups were also investigated. A total of 58 mental healthcare professionals and 60 somatic healthcare professionals working in primary and secondary care in Lincolnshire were included. They each completed an attitudes towards mental disorders questionnaire and the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale. Questions covered perceptions of prevalence and included questions about eating disorders; an area where previous research has shown stigmatising attitudes can restrict treatment opportunities. Attitudes towards people with mental disorders were generally positive in both groups. However non-mental healthcare professionals saw those with a mental disorder as significantly more dangerous and unpredictable than did mental healthcare professionals. There was no significant difference in emotional empathy between the two groups and both cited illicit drug use as one of the most significant causes of mental disorder. The authors conclude that, other than with regard to unpredictable and potentially dangerous behaviour, mental healthcare professionals and non-mental healthcare professionals show broadly similar attitudes and a similar degree of empathy towards people with a mental disorder.
A handbook for the study of mental health: social contexts, theories, and systems
- Editors:
- SCHEID Teresa L., BROWN Tony N., (eds.)
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 714p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
- Edition:
- 2nd ed.
The second edition of this textbook appears ten years after it was first published and has been fully updated targeting emerging areas of research. Expert contributions combine to offer comprehensive coverage of conceptual, substantive and policy aspects of mental health and illness. Part I examines social factors that shape psychiatric diagnosis and the measurement of mental health and illness, theories that explain the definition and treatment of mental disorders and cultural variability. Part II investigates effects of social context, considering class, gender, race and age, and the critical role played by stress, marriage, work and social support. Part III focuses on the organisation, delivery and evaluation of mental health services, including the criminalisation of mental illness, the challenges posed by HIV, and the importance of stigma. The book is written for classroom use in the fields of sociology, social work, human relations, human services, and psychology. It provides useful definitions, overviews of the historical, social, and institutional frameworks for understanding mental health and illness. Summary chapters describe the wider context for the study of the subject.
Distant voices, still lives: reflections on the impact of media reporting of the cases of Christopher Clunis and Ben Silcock
- Author:
- CUMMINS Ian
- Journal article citation:
- Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, 3(4), December 2010, pp.18-29.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article explores the way that the media reporting of two high profile cases involving mental health policy has helped to support and sustain the stereotypical view that people with mental health problems are violent. It also explores the issue of race and psychiatry via the reporting of the Inquiry into the Care and Treatment of Christopher Clunis. In addition, with the use of government papers obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the author considers how the response to and the attempts to influence the media debate at that time helped to shape mental health policy culminating in the reform of the Mental health Act 2007 and the introduction of community treatment orders (CTOs). In the case of Ben Silcock, first reported in 1993, emphasis was on the way that mental health services had failed him and his family. In Contrast, in the case of Christopher Clunis, a 19 year old black male, which was first reported in December 1992, focus was on the failure of mental health services to protect the wider community. It is argued that the reporting of this case reflected racial and class divisions with the voice of a black working class family being effectively marginalised. The author concludes that media reporting of high profile cases has a profound influence on the development of mental health policy and that the failings in community care had a profound influence in the introduction of more coercive mental health legislation. Mental health professionals need to challenge racial stereotyping more effectively.