Although our society and its system are getting better equipped to compensate for mental health, somewhere, mental health stigma is slowly affecting the lives of millions. If you see your near and dear ones going through the same, don’t think twice to visit a psychiatric hospital in Kolkata.

What Is Stigma?

A stigma is a destructive, negative, and unfair social attitude directed towards a person or a group highlighting their weakness or shortcoming and shaming that person or group for a perceived deficiency. 

What Is Mental Health Stigma?

When society disapproves or places shame on individuals or a group of people who live with mental illnesses such as anxiety, neurodevelopmental disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, elimination disorder, sexual dysfunction, personality disorder, dissociative disorder, and depression, the disapproval or shame can directly come from near and dear ones too.

What Are The Causes Of Mental Illness Stigma?

• Lack of education
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of perception
• Fear of people with mental illness

Negative Effects Of Stigma Towards Mental Health

According to statistical data, every nine out of ten people with mental illness experience small-mindedness, suffer discrimination and face stigma. 

If a person with a mental illness faces stigma, it becomes difficult for them to adjust to society, normalise their thoughts that ultimately hinder their early recovery. Below are some negative effects of stigma towards mental health:

• Self-doubt
• Self-isolation 
• Hopelessness
• Increased psychiatric symptoms
• Reduced likelihood to stick to the treatment
• Reluctance to seek help and treatment
• Lack of understanding by family, friends, loved ones, coworkers
• Lower self-esteem
• Harassment, bullying, and physical violence
• Reduction in opportunities in workplace school, discrimination at work
• Trouble finding a place to stay
• Unemployment
• Worsening symptoms

A study was conducted in 2017 revolving around the idea of mental illness stigma. It involved around 200 individuals with mental illness over two years. It was found that self-stigma is inversely proportional to recovery. Once the self-stigma gets stronger, it becomes difficult to recover from that mental illness.

Treatments

The main responsibility lies in dealing with the people suffering mental health stigma and encouraging them to overcome it. That’s where the necessity of proper counselling shows up. To get the best psychiatric treatment in Kolkata, you should visit any psychiatric hospital in Kolkata.

Now let’s see what the ways to end mental health stigma are: 

Education:  As stated earlier, lack of education, awareness, and perception can cause mental health stigma. So, it’s our utmost responsibility to encourage mass education. You have to not only educate yourself but also your children about mental health. Thus, educating the public about the true nature of mental illness through awareness campaigns is extremely necessary. 

Share Real-Life Examples: Survivors sharing their stories of overcoming their mental health problems is important.

Be A Good Listener: Listen to people and support them with mental health concerns.

Confronting Sufferers About Mental Illness And Its Recovery: We have to make the sufferers learn about mental illness and understand that recovery is possible.

Psychotherapy And Counselling: Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy. Proper counselling and listening to their point of view are extremely important. 

Medications: In the worst-case scenario, there is no other substitute than medications like antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, antipsychotic medication, mood stabilisers. 

Don’t start any treatment, therapy, or medication on your own; always consult with psychiatrists to get the best psychiatric treatment in Kolkata.

Conclusion

Mental health is a necessary wealth. You should always prioritise your mental health. In case you are confused about where to start, you should take proper counselling from https://www.ilshospitals.com/, which is one of the best psychiatric hospitals in Kolkata.