Social stigma
Research shows that children are aware of cultural stereotypes at an early age, which affects their perception of their own identity and their interactions with the world around them.
[11] Young people who experience stigma associated with mental health difficulties may face negative reactions from their peer group.
[16] German-born sociologist and historian Gerhard Falk wrote:[17] All societies will always stigmatize some conditions and some behaviors because doing so provides for group solidarity by delineating "outsiders" from "insiders".
[16] Bruce Link and Jo Phelan propose that stigma exists when four specific components converge:[19] In this model stigmatization is also contingent on "access to social, economic, and political power that allows the identification of differences, construction of stereotypes, the separation of labeled persons into distinct groups, and the full execution of disapproval, rejection, exclusion, and discrimination."
An example of this is the emphasis that was put on the size of the forehead and faces of individuals in the late 19th century—which was believed to be a measure of a person's criminal nature.
This process of applying certain stereotypes to differentiated groups of individuals has attracted a large amount of attention and research in recent decades.
Many definitions of stigma do not include this aspect, however, these authors believe that this loss occurs inherently as individuals are "labeled, set apart, and linked to undesirable characteristics."
On the other hand, an example of a situation in which individuals of a stigmatized group have "stigma-related processes"[clarification needed] occurring would be the inmates of a prison.
However, this situation cannot involve true stigmatization, according to this model, because the prisoners do not have the economic, political, or social power to act on these thoughts with any serious discriminatory consequences.
Hence, Hughey argues that some actors do not simply desire to "pass into normal" but may actively pursue a stigmatized identity formation process in order to experience themselves as causal agents in their social environment.
In this situation, the analysis of stigma is concerned only with the behaviors adopted by the stigmatized individual to manage his identity: the concealing and revealing of information.
Stigma occurs when an individual is identified as deviant, linked with negative stereotypes that engender prejudiced attitudes, which are acted upon in discriminatory behavior.
[24] Gerhard Falk expounds upon Goffman's work by redefining deviant as "others who deviate from the expectations of a group" and by categorizing deviance into two types: Communication is involved in creating, maintaining, and diffusing stigmas, and enacting stigmatization.
[33] This study argues that it is not only the force of the rational argument that makes the challenge to the stigma successful, but concrete evidence that sex workers can achieve valued aims, and are respected by others.
[39] A 2020 book by Roulet reviews this literature and disentangle the different concepts – in particular differentiating stigma, dirty work, scandals – and exploring their positive implications.
[clarification needed] Recent research suggests that addressing perceived and enacted stigma in clinical settings is critical to ensuring delivery of high-quality patient-centered care.
Among other findings, individuals who were married, younger, had higher income, had college degrees, and were employed reported significantly fewer poor physical and mental health days and had lower odds of self-reported depressive disorder.
[citation needed] Empirical research on the stigma associated with mental disorders, pointed to a surprising attitude of the general public.
"Furthermore, research respondents are less likely to pity persons with mental illness, instead of reacting to the psychiatric disability with anger and believing that help is not deserved.
[48] Reducing the negative stigma surrounding mental disorders may increase the probability of affected individuals seeking professional help from a psychiatrist or a non-psychiatric physician.
The results revealed that the general population held high levels of benevolence, tolerance on rehabilitation in the community, and nonsocial restrictiveness.
It could then be inferred that the belief (held by the residents of Taiwan) in treating the mentally ill with high regard, and the progress of psychiatric rehabilitation may be hindered by factors other than social stigma.
[69][70] Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has been used effectively to help people to reduce shame associated with cultural stigma around substance use treatment.
[74] The epidemiological study provided evidence that levels of under-reporting have increased over the period, which coincided with the deployment of public health campaigns on the dangers of ice that had stigmatizing elements that portrayal of persons who used the drugs in a negative way.
[77] Disdain for the impoverished can be traced back to its roots in Anglo-American culture where poor people have been blamed and ostracized for their misfortune for hundreds of years.
[79][80] Stigma towards welfare recipients has been proven to increase passivity and dependency in poor people and has further solidified their status and feelings of inferiority.
Stigma is a major factor contributing to the duration and breadth of poverty in developed societies which largely affects single mothers.
Chung-yan Guardian Fong and Anchor Hung conducted a study in Hong Kong which documented public attitudes towards individuals with epilepsy.
(Unz, Schwab & Winterhoff-Spurk, 2008, p. 141)[85] In a study testing the effects of stereotypical advertisements on students, 75 high school students viewed magazine advertisements with stereotypical female images such as a woman working on a holiday dinner, while 50 others viewed nonstereotypical images such as a woman working in a law office.
(Lafky, Duffy, Steinmaus & Berkowitz, 1996)[86] The aforementioned stigmas (associated with their respective diseases) propose effects that these stereotypes have on individuals.
