What Is Stigma?

There are several themes that define stigmas for mental illnesses, but three main ones that have been determined after analyzing film and print (Corrigan): People with mental illnesses are homicidal maniacs who need to be feared, they have childlike perceptions of the world that should be marveled, and they are responsible for their illness because they have weak character.

More themes include (Corrigan):

• Fear and exclusion: people with severe mental illness should be feared and kept out of most communities,

• Authoritarianism: they are irresponsible so life decisions should be made by others

• Benevolence: they are childlike and need to be cared for.

What stems from public stigma is discrimination.

And discrimination can take four forms:

• Segregated institutions, different housing and work opportunities for those who struggle with mental illnesses.

• Coercive treatment,

• Avoidance

• Withholding help.

“Unlike physical disabilities, persons with mental illness are perceived by the public to be in control of their disabilities and responsible for causing them (Corrigan).”

Self-stigma is the prejudice that people with mental illnesses have for themselves (Corrigan).

Research suggests that instead of being put down about the idea many struggling with mental illnesses become angry because of the prejudice they experience (Arboleda).

Living in a society that widely endorses stigmatizing ideas will in turn internalize these ideas and cause one to believe that they are less valued because of their disorder (Arboleda).

Self-stigma can be defined in three similar components as public stigma was (Corrigan):

• Discrimination--a behavior response to prejudice (fails to pursue work and housing opportunities).

• Prejudice--an agreement with belief, negative emotional reaction (low self-esteem, low self-efficacy).

• Stereotype--a negative belief about self (character weakness, incompetence).

Stigmas are incredibly ingrained into society; they have been around for a long time.

Many cultural forces have contributed to a tendency to see the mentally ill as deficient in some way (Lawrie).

Throughout history and in practically every culture people, including mental illness sufferers, have been stigmatized (Arboleda).

We as humans have a general tendency to be afraid of the unknown (Lawrie), and teenagers at high school feel this even more so.

Because of this fear we tend to avoid the unknown, in this case mental illness, as well.

This prevents people from getting used to what is being feared; it prevents them from becoming educated on the topic.

This in turn reinforces the fear we feel towards those suffering from a mental illness.

Human beings have a natural tendency to form bonds in relatively small groups, and this has been proven true time and time again to be true about high school.

We become critical and suspicious of those outside the group, and this typically includes those with mental illnesses when looking at a high school setting.