Research Paper on Mental Health Stigma

There has been a debate on whether increasing the number of mental health facilities is sufficient to improve the community's mental health. As people now place a greater priority on their mental health, the number of mental health services has increased. However, according to a nationwide poll, 68.2 percent of people with mental health problems did not seek treatment due to the stigmas associated with mental health patients (Tonsing, 2017). This shows that even though mental help services are available, people are reluctant to use them due to the stigma.

Mental health stigma refers to both negative attitudes towards those with mental illness and unpleasant self-perceptions such as shame or disgrace faced by those with mental health illnesses (Stuart, 2016). There are two main types of mental health stigma namely social stigma and self-stigma. Social stigma refers to the society or community projecting the negative stereotype and attitude towards people with mental health conditions (Tonsing, 2017). On the other hand, self-stigma occurs when a person with mental illness internalizes the unpleasant stereotypes placed upon by society (Oexle et al., 2017). Both social and self-stigma affects the mental well-being of people with mental conditions as it causes misconceptions leading to discrimination. This in turn hinders them from seeking help and exacerbates their mental illness (Tonsing, 2017). 

Therefore, rather than simply providing more mental health facilities, focus should instead be placed on breaking the mental health stigma in the community through interventions in the form of education and mass media.

Firstly, stigma of mental health results in misperceptions about mental illness in the society. This causes discrimination against people with mental disorders, making them feel ashamed, affecting their mental health in the long run. Stigma refers to negative prejudice against people with mental illness (Oexle et al., 2017). This leads the public to have an inaccurate perception of mental health disorders. According to a survey from the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), 6 in 10 people believe mental illness can be blamed on a lack of self-discipline and willpower (Ng, 2018). Similarly, a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) notes that the public has referred to patients who talk about their condition as attention-seekers or acting out (Yeoh, 2021). These studies revealed that misconceptions about mental health issues lead to negative attitudes and behaviours toward those who are affected (Ng, 2018). Furthermore, these misconceptions lead to discrimination against people who suffer from mental illnesses. According to the NCSS poll, more than 5 out of 10 people are hesitant to live or work with persons who have mental health issues (Ng, 2018). This is because they believe people with mental problems are dangerous, thus discriminate against them (Tonsing, 2018). The discrimination cause people with mental health illnesses to feel ashamed of themselves and hide their conditions from others (Tonsing, 2018). This prevents individuals from getting professional care and diagnosis for their condition due fear that it may cause major impacts on their lives such as job loss or social exclusion (Yeoh, 2021). Therefore, tackling mental health stigma is crucial since it contributes to inaccurate information, which may result in negative behaviours and discrimination.

Secondly, people with mental health issues are hesitant to use the mental health facilities due to the stigma on mental health. This delays their recovery process and deteriorates their condition. According to a Singapore Mental Health Study in 2016, one out of every seven people has experienced a mental health condition, but more than three quarters did not seek professional help to recover (Goh, 2020). This may be due to the societal stigma attached to mental diseases (Tonsing, 2017). Social stigma occurs when the public project negative stereotypes on people with mental illnesses (Tonsing, 2017). With the public having a negative perception of mental illness, many have been delaying seeking treatment and concealing their illness from others (Goh, 2020). Furthermore, self-stigmatization also causes a barrier to their recovery (Oexle et al., 2017). Self-stigma occurs when a person with a mental condition internalises and believes the negative stereotypes (Oexle et al., 2017). This leads to self-loathing and loss of hope which discourages one from seeking any professional help (Oexle et al., 2017). By delaying treatment, it will cause one’s condition to deteriorate even further, making the recovery process harder as time passes (Ng, 2018) Therefore, mental health stigma should be reduced as it greatly affects one’s health by delaying treatment, causing one’s condition to worsen.

Thirdly, while offering more mental health services helps to improve people's mental health, it is insufficient since stigma still prevents some people from getting treatment. In 2020, there was a 22% rise in hotline calls to Samaritans of Singapore, a suicide prevention organization, compared to 2019. (Yeoh, 2021). This shows that the facilities have encouraged and assisted some individuals to seek help for their mental conditions. However, despite the increase of people seeking assistance, there are still others who are hesitant to seek help due stigma associated with mental illness (Yeoh, 2021). With the negative impacts of mental health stigma such as discrimination as shown in the discussions above, it causes difficulty for one to acknowledge having a mental condition (Yeoh, 2021). This results in being unwilling to disclose one’s mental health state and not seek treatment, which affects the recovery process and mental well-being (Tonsing, 2018).Therefore, the mental health facilities do contribute to the recovery of some people, there are still others who are in dire need of treatment but are reluctant due to the stigma on mental illness, which may cause detrimental effects on their mental health. Thus, measures must be developed to reduce mental health stigma and encourage people seek treatment for recovery.

To overcome the stigma associated with mental illness, everyone in the society needs to play a role in changing the attitudes of the community and individuals in society. This can be done by raising the public’s awareness of mental health problems through education and mass media (Stuart, 2016).

The first strategy is to educate the public about mental illnesses and the effects of stigma on mental health (Stuart, 2016). Public education would address the misconceptions on mental health disorders, which would be effective in reducing societal and self-stigma (Stuart, 2016). This is through informing people on the fact that mental disorders are not always dangerous and can be managed with treatment and support (Stuart, 2016). This could influence societal perceptions of mental health and motivate people to seek therapy (Tonsing, 2017). Furthermore, educating the public may influence children's attitudes toward this topic. According to Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, children learn through imitating the actions of others. (Levine & Munsch, 2018).  This implies that when adults have a positive attitude toward mental health conditions, children are more likely to emulate this behaviour, breaking the stigma of mental illness in the younger ones. The Mental Health Commission of Canada's program Opening Minds is an example of a program that employed education to reduce stigma (Stuart, 2016). This program enlisted members of the stigmatized group to provide contact-based teaching to a variety of target groups, including youths and health care practitioners (Stuart, 2016). By having the members of the stigmatized groups educate people on mental health, the positive interaction changed people’s perspectives and reduce discrimination against them (Stuart, 2016). This program was shown to be effective with improved attitudes towards people with mental disorders (Stuart, 2016).

The second strategy is to use mass media to counter mental health stigma (Stuart, 2016).  With the widespread use of technology in our daily lives, using mass media to raise awareness about mental health stigma will be effective since it will reach a broader audience. Through channels such as radio, television, and internet advertising, media can be utilized to lessen stigma by presenting accurate information on mental health and the effects of mental health stigma (Stuart, 2016). This will help to improve people’s attitudes and behaviour towards people with mental health problems (Stuart, 2016). England's Time to Change is an example of a media-based intervention program (Stuart, 2016). The goal of this program was to minimize discrimination and bring a positive change in attitude towards mental disorders over 5 years (Stuart, 2016). They employed social marketing each year to educate the public about mental health issues (Stuart, 2016). As a result, they increased awareness from around 39 percent to 64 percent (Stuart, 2016).

In conclusion, increasing the number of mental health facilities is insufficient to improve the community's mental health because mental health stigma causes discrimination, which leads people to not use the facilities that are available. This could have a significant impact on their mental health. Therefore, rather than providing more mental health faculties, we should focus on reducing mental stigma in the community through education and the media to improve the mental well-being of the community.