What is the Stigma About Mental Health?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that one in four of the world’s population will experience mental illness at some point in their lives. However, a persistent stigma exists around the subject of mental illness, and it can be a deterrent to people seeking out the professional help they need. 

How Can a Stigma Affect Your Health?

This stigma encompasses negative stereotypes, attitudes, fears, myths and beliefs about mental illness that have continued to grow despite a more sophisticated medical understanding of what causes these illnesses. This ongoing stigma can have a negative effect on people’s motivation to seek care and treatment for mental illness. 

Mental health stigma takes several forms in today’s world:

• Public stigma is the pervasive and continuing negative beliefs and attitudes from larger individuals and groups within society toward mentally ill people, their families, and their healthcare providers. 
• Self-stigma is the detrimental negative self-regard of people suffering from mental illness. They may believe they are permanently damaged or flawed and blame themselves for their condition.
• Structural stigma is a long-held belief in society that has been adopted into laws. These laws can sometimes restrict the rights of people with mental health conditions and override their needs, desires and choices. 

Long-standing acceptance of these stigmas within society prevents a thorough understanding of mental illness. People don’t want to hear or think about complex and mysterious health issues that can suddenly appear and alter a person’s behavior. Cancer is easily understood and elicits compassion because it’s an easily explained and understood enemy. Mental illness may have complicated origins that are hidden and may take years of clinical therapy to uncover. 

Changing Attitudes

It was much easier in the past for society to exclude people with mental illness and lock them away, figuratively and literally. Thankfully, modern medicine, along with the internet and social media, has encouraged many people to treat mental illness with care and compassion. 

People with mental illness are being encouraged to take charge of their lives and seek out qualified treatment. Mental health organizations and hospitals routinely provide referrals for people with mental illness.   

Coping with Mental Illness

While attitudes are changing as people become more comfortable and learn more about mental illness, there are still some areas where people can help manage their illness and improve their lives.

Treatment

Many people suffering from depression or other debilitating mental illnesses know they need help to function in society. However, people suffering from bipolar issues may be unaware of their condition. Listening to friends and family and seeking treatment when recommended is the first step in managing your condition. 

Isolation

Self-isolation can be a defense mechanism that you may think will protect you from the stigmas of others. However, self-doubt can be a powerful enemy and may prevent you from managing your illness effectively. When you isolate yourself, your mind tends to become obsessed with your problems, and it can lead to a downward spiral of harmful self-doubt and depression. Staying engaged and social with friends and family can help you manage your illness better and maintain a positive outlook.  

Don’t Equate Yourself with Your Illness

Many people who have mental illness fall prey to the stigmatization of others who see no difference between the person and the illness. One of the first things you’ll learn when you start treatment is that the illness doesn’t define you as a person. The sooner you can begin thinking objectively of your illness as a separate entity that needs to be managed effectively, the sooner you’ll develop a positive outlook in regard to your improvement. 

Join a Support Group

Surrounding yourself with understanding friends and family, as well as new acquaintances who have the same mental illness, provides you with a safety net that helps you deal effectively with the remaining stigmas of society. 

Creating this support group may also provide you with a broader source of helpful information and mental health referrals. 

Contact Bangkok Mental Health Hospital (BMHH)

Bangkok Mental Health Hospital (BMHH) is a mental health facility in Thailand. We offer specialized therapy and mental health care for a wide range of mental health conditions, including:

• Depression
• Phobias
• Eating disorders
• Bipolar disorder
• Personality disorders
• Schizophrenia
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Anxiety disorders 
• Disruptive behavior disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder 
• Attention deficit / Hyperactivity disorder
• Autism spectrum disorder

Our treatments include evidence-based therapies, such as psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness-based therapies. We also provide psychiatric medications to manage symptoms in combination with other therapies and rehab practices and techniques. 

If you feel that you or a friend or family member needs treatment for their mental health issues, encourage them to make an appointment for an initial consultation at Bangkok Mental Health Hospital today.