Hello New Britain Progressive readers.
My name is Carlos Ayala and this is going to be the first article of a series of articles and podcasts called;
Can we change?
So the first topic is:
Can we change the bias and stigma associated with mental health in our community?
Stigma and mental health bias can be a major barrier to people accessing needed care. More than 700,000 people in the world commit suicide every year. Which is an average of 1 person every 40 seconds taking their own life. With the proper treatment and care we can drastically decrease the suicide rate in our communities. Many people in our community are affected by mental health. It affects us all. Every family has someone who has been diagnosed with something. Honestly we are at a point in our society that my therapist has a therapist. Since cellular phones was introduced to humanity it has isolated a lot of people and has lead to a lot of mental health issues with our children and communities. Mental health is stigmatized for many reasons including; lack of understanding, misleading media, stereotypes,personal beliefs, religious beliefs, historical factors, structural discrimination, and community dynamics. Most mental health disorders are hereditary and manifest when you go through a traumatic experience.
For example;
● The man you see in front of Walmart with a veteran hat is a soldier from a good middle class family. Then he gets sent to his first tour of War. Now that the soldier has seen death and battles he is traumatized and now suffers from PTSD and most people look at him as if he is a bum. When he returns home what kind of help do we really have for him?
● A kid who lives his whole life in a violent alcoholic household is affected by alcoholism, is more likely to have a substance abuse disorder and we label him as a drunk.
● The man who is bipolar and has no medical insurance and is self medicating with drugs is he not labeled as a junkie and an addict.
● What about the child with a learning disorder is he not judged and ridiculed and thought to be stupid.
There are so many bias and stigma associated with mental health that it has divided families and communities.
So what can we do to change , as families, as a community,as a state ,as a nation? Now let’s identify Some of the major mental health disorders:
● Depression
● Post traumatic stress disorder
● Bi polar disorder
● Eating disorder
● Generalized anxiety disorder
● Obsessive compulsive disorder
● Schizophrenia
● Personality disorder
● Dissociative disorders
● Psychosis
● Substance use disorder
● Personality disorder
● Schizoaffective disorder
● Impulse control disorder
● Panic disorder
● Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
● Neurodevelopmental disorder
Let’s start by identifying some of the biggest bias:
● Race and ethnicity:
Mental health incongruity is widespread in the treatment and diagnosis of mental illness, and can be due to unjustified judgment based on race and ethnicity.
● Gender:
Gender bias can lead to misdiagnosis or under diagnosis. The man can barely get diagnosed with depression and a woman who feels the same and tells the doctor the same exact thing is, diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
● Socioeconomic status:
indirect bias can directly influence the level of care provided to patients
● Unconscious bias:
A natural aspect of human cognition that must be addressed to ensure fair and effective mental healthcare for our community.
● Therapeutic pessimism:
The idea that mental health patients are incurable
● Stigma in the workplace:
Stigma in the workplace culture can lead people with mental health issues to remain silent.
Stigma is found in many different levels:
● Individual – a person’s feelings of shame or being less worthy and is reluctant to seek help.
● Interpersonal -endorsing negative stereotypical or prejudicial ideas about others with mental health illness ; speaking or acting in discriminatory ways.
● Structural stigma -is established within formal Or informal rules; policies and cultural norms.
Structural stigma in our healthcare system is often enacted unconsciously through implicit cognitive biases.
Some examples of how structural stigma exist in healthcare systems include :
● People with mental health illness or substance use disorder are made to feel deprioritized ,less than, underdiagnosed
● Inequititable Investment and underfunding in mental healthcare research Compared to physical health
● Inadequate training of healthcare professionals
● Stigma within staff/ workplaces
A Group of Canadian researchers have developed a series of priorities for ending structural stigma in,healthcare environments that maybe we can adopt.
● Ensuring greater involvement of people with mental illness or substance use disorder, such as participation in advisory groups on the development of services, policies, actual care ,and Training of professionals.
● Building a supportive and stigma free work place culture, such as ongoing training to increase awareness of implicit bias and structural stigma for all staff. In addition, encourage and support mental healthcare for staff and improve workplace culture though policies and Training.
● Adopting integrated, recovery oriented, holistic,accessible
● client centered models of care.
● Distribution of resources for mental health and substance use care on par with physical health.
Levels of mental health stigma experienced can vary as a function of the presented mental health problem diagnosis and symptoms of the people in our community. Any change in stigma, bias ,policies and norms are our responsibility as humans to change. If your not part of the solutions then your part of the problem. So I challenge this community to bring the change we need.
Editor’s note: The article was edited to update annual suicide figures and clarify that they are global statistics.
