Stigma is a key concept to understanding the social construction of health and i

Question

Stigma is a key concept to understanding the social construction of health and illness. Rather than reading a (long) article on this, please look up one mental health condition that is stigmatized. This may be either a current recognized mental health condition or one that has been de-pathologized.

What mental health condition did you decide to look up? How does stigma affect this condition?

In what ways is this condition embedded with cultural meaning?

How do individuals come to understand and live with this illness?

How does stigma affect the way you think about and discuss mental health? Note: you are not required to disclose your mental health status unless you are comfortable and want to.

Explanation / Answer

Ans.) Social constructionism is a conceptual framework that emphasizes the cultural and historical aspects of phenomena widely thought to be exclusively natural. Mental disorder are subject to negative judgments and stigmatization. Many patients not only have to cope with the often devastating effects of their mental illness, but also suffer from social stigma. Social stigmatization of the mentally ill people has a long tradition.

Mental illnesses have both biomedical and experiential dimensions. Even though often unnoticed, certain illnesses have particular social or cultural meanings attributed to them which stick to the illness and may have independent effects on patients and health care system.

The mental health condition discussed here is Bipolar Mental Disorder - Bipolar Disorder manic depression, is a mental disorder that causes periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood. People with bipolar disorder often face problems with social stigma.

When people know that a person is suffering from any mental disorder (Bipolar Disorder), they start ignoring you and often portrayed as crazy without realizing the actual situation.

Few ways to cope with stigma-

Stigma affects the way of thinking in many different ways. First and foremost it diminishes self-esteem of the person suffering from it and deprives people from many social and cultural activities. Such as employment or accommodation. Being discriminated hugely affects the self-esteem and confidence. This can increase isolation from society and reinforce feelings of exclusion and social withdrawal.

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