UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: STIGMA

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UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOPATHOLOGYSTIGMA
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OVERVIEW

• Discuss stigma and its impact
• Stigma in the media
• Illustrate assertive community treatment

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STIGMA

• Goffman (1963) sign of disgrace or discredit
  that sets a person apart from others. Deeply
  discrediting attributes that disqualify one from
  full social acceptance disgrace and motivate
  efforts by the stigmatized person to hide the
  mark when possible

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"Stigmatization of people with mental disorders
is manifested by bias, distrust, stereotyping,
fear, embarrassment, anger, and/or avoidance.
Stigma leads the (public) to avoid people with
mental disorders. It reduces access to resources
and leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and
hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking,
and wanting to pay for care. Stigma results in
outright discrimination and abuse. More
tragically, it deprives people of their dignity
and interferes with their full participation in
society."--U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher
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ATTRIBUTION THEORY OF STIGMA

• Attribution theory suggests at least two
  dimensions of relevance
• Stability of causality
• More stable causesmore stigma
• Controllability of causality
• Personally controllable events result in higher
  level of blame and stigma
• Onset and offset attributions are relevant (i.e.,
  is the person seen as responsible for contracting
  the disease is s/he seen as actively trying to
  cope with the disease?

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Corrigans model of Stigmatization of mental
illness (2000)
Helping Behavior
Symptoms are uncontrollable
Pity
Person With Mental Illness
Punishing Behavior
Symptoms are controllable
Anger
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PET scans of a forty-five-year-old woman with
recurrent depression.

• left -- no medications and
• very depressed.
• right was taken several months later when she was
  well, after medication had treated her
  depression. Note that her entire brain is more
  active when well, particularly the left
  prefrontal cortex. http//www.nimh.nih.gov/hotsci/
  depress.htm

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ASSERTIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT

• Outreach
• Full range of services
• Health
• Mental health
• Social services
• Rehabilitation