"Those people are crazy!" and why you should care.
by spark7 on March 14, 2014 - 4:19pm
Many people don’t like to talk about mental health; they feel uncomfortable if someone brings up the topic of mental illness. It is not uncommon to hear “those people are crazy” thrown about when talking about the section of the population that suffers from a mental illness. Not only does this ostracize a whole group of people, this is exactly why there is a stigma attached to mental illness, thus resulting in a lack of help-seeking behavior. While there are treatment options available, whether they are psychological such as therapy or medicinal such as pharmaceuticals, many individuals suffering from a mental health disorder do not seek out said treatments. This is due to stigma. The issue of mental illness stigma resulting in lack of treatment is what Andres Martinez was concerned with, which lead to his research on the relationship between an increase in humanizing mental illness and the likeliness of seeking help for said illness. Through his three separate, but related studies involving computer surveys and scenario responses, Martinez was able to see that by looking at mental illness in a more human light, people grew more compassionate. This compassion not only then lead to an increase in concern for those suffering from mental health issues, but was also turned inward for a “self-compassion” so to speak. From here, it was shown that this sense of “inward-facing-compassion” decreased the stigma attached and increased the likelihood that those participants would seek out mental health treatment in the future, if ever they needed it (Martinez, 2014). This is a huge discovery. If mental health stigma can be shown to decrease after exposure to these scenarios and increasing compassion, there is the hope that stigma can decrease more widely and those who suffer from a mental illness could then feel more comfortable about the idea of seeking treatment. Also, this could possibly be applied to other illnesses in the future, not just of the mental health variety. Stigma is not limited to one area or disease.
Martinez perhaps lacks a bit of clarity in that he doesn’t fully explain the stigma attached to mental illness. He mentions that there is one attached, but for anyone reading without background information, they likely won’t be able to understand the depth of this stigma and how devastating it can be for those suffering from a mental health disorder. This is important for a better understanding of the reasoning behind this study. The issue of stigma as it relates to mental health was actually my main topic of research for a class last semester, so I was able to read through Martinez’s paper without question, but when I took a step back and attempted to see the paper as someone without the same background knowledge would have, I was able to find questions in his work. The main thought I had was, “Why is this so important to study?” I believe Andres Martinez could have afforded more detail in the opening area of his paper so as to explain it as thoroughly as he did with his research results and conclusions. Stigma is not the only factor that plays into the lack of help-seeking behavior, and Martinez does state this, but I think he fails to explain how much of a deterrent it can be. The way others who are not affected by mental illness view these disorders is creating an uncomfortable environment for those who are affected and in a lot of situations, the end result is death, often by suicide. When people feel too uncomfortable about being judged by others, for something they can’t control, to seek treatment their illness is left alone only to deteriorate more and more as time passes. Eventually, some choose to take their life because they didn’t have the opportunity to see that with treatment, things can get better. This is the harsh reality of stigma. I think that in order to understand the necessity of Martinez’s research, readers need more background on why it is so important to humanize mental illness and eliminate stigma, so that others may improve their lives.
Martinez, A. G. (February 1, 2014). When 'They' Become 'I': Ascribing Humanity to
Mental Illness Influences Treatment-Seeking for Mental/Behavioral Health
Conditions. Journal Of Social & Clinical Psychology, 33(2), 187-206.