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The end of stigma?: changes in the social experience of long-term illness
- Author:
- GREEN Gill
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 156p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
The author investigates the contemporary experiences of stigma and examines stigma in relation to a variety of long term conditions such as HIV, mental illness and substance misuse. Chapter two reviews the concept of stigma and looks at the ways in which the concept has been defined and applied in understanding long-term illness. Chapter three looks at the technological, personal and organizational challenges to stigma and exclusion. Chapters on HIV, mental health and substance misuse follow. The concluding chapter discusses the challenges and asks whether we are arriving 'at the end of stigma?'. The author demonstrates that people with long-term conditions refuse to be defined by their condition and highlights their increasingly powerful voice.
A mental health service users perspective to stigmatisation
- Authors:
- GREEN Gill, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 12(3), June 2003, pp.223-234.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Previous campaigns to combat stigma emphasise the need for people who do not have mental health problems to behave in a non-stigmatising socially inclusive way towards those who do. Less attention has been given to the role of people with mental health problems in the construction of stigma or the impact it has upon them. To enhance services' contribution to supporting their clients in dealing with stigma, this study explores the nature and impact of stigma from the perspective of the lived experience of mental health service users. In-depth interviews were conducted with 27 Caucasian service users. All respondents, whatever their diagnosis, reported being affected by stigma. Fear of stigma was found to be more commonplace (reported by 25 respondents) and more restrictive than overt discrimination (reported by 14 respondents). It is suggested that traditional campaigns that highlight discrimination may have a negative impact on the mentally ill because they highlight the prevalence of hostile attitudes. In so doing the stigmatised stereotype is perpetuated.