Mental Health Stigma: A Wicked Problem

Authors

Katelyn YohFollow

Document Type

Research Paper

Publication Date

Fall 11-12-2020

Faculty Advisor

Professor Andrew Vogel

Abstract

Mental health stigma began in the 5th century, continued through the 18th century, and began to improve in the 1840s. Mental health has been viewed as negative and those who suffer from a mental illness or disorder also suffer from stigma as well as negative consequences, such as other mental health concerns, physical issues, and psychological issues due to stigma. This paper goes into deep detail about what mental health stigma is, how stigma is used from peers and internalizes and creates self stigma, what the results of stigma are (all negative), and lastly ways to help put an end to stigma. A little background, mental health stigma is people viewing others in a negative way because they believe that those struggling are disadvantaged, which is because it is viewed as a negative stereotype. Stigma negatively affects every aspect, and even causes stigma to internalize and make people who suffer believe the things they are told or are viewed as. Stigma then causes bad results, in all aspects, such as mentally, physically, and psychologically. It then examines ways to help end stigma, mainly revolving around education on the subject.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Yoh, Katelyn, "Mental Health Stigma: A Wicked Problem" (2020). English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World. 36.
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/wickedproblems/36