People with Social Phobia face very large barriers to getting the treatment they need — larger than those faced by others with mental illnesses.
Many of the barriers are the same as with other mental illnesses, but some are unique to Social Phobia. Mark Olfson of Columbia University says:
Socially anxious people are often ashamed of their symptoms and embarrassed to discuss them with friends or health care professionals. It is ironic that the very symptoms socially anxious individuals seek to relieve may interfere with their ability to seek treatment.
This post, based on research by Olfson reported in The American Journal of Psychiatry, goes into detail about the barriers people with Social Phobia face, along with what can be done about it. It addresses the following topics:
- First, what is Social Phobia?
- Research on barriers to getting treatment for Social Phobia
- Untreated Social Phobia is very common
- Untreated Social Phobia greatly impairs daily functionality
- Barriers to treatment of Social Phobia
- What can be done to increase the treatment rate for people with Social Phobia?
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Barriers to treatment,
SAD - Social Phobia,
Stigma
The stigma of mental illness continues to a shocking degree throughout the world.
A new study has detailed the stigma of mental illness in Canada. Its results are unsettling, to say the least. Here are some of the findings:
- 46% believe that a diagnosis of mental illness is merely an “excuse for poor behavior and personal failings”
- 10% think that people with mental illness could “just snap out of it if they wanted”
- 42% would no longer socialize with a friend diagnosed with mental illness
- 55% would not marry someone who suffered from mental illness
- 25% are afraid of being around someone who suffers from serious mental illness
- 50% would not tell friends or coworkers that a family member was suffering from mental illness. 72% would discuss cancer, and 68% diabetes.
- 50% think alcoholism and drug addiction are not mental illnesses
- 11% think depression is not a mental illness
- 50% think that depression is not a serious condition
There is no reason to believe that attitudes toward the mentally ill are any better in the US. Experience shows us that they may be even be worse. To my knowledge there have been no comparable studies of mental health stigma in the US, amazingly enough.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Canada,
Mental Health,
Mental Illness,
Stigma
Television programs like “In Treatment,” “Frasier,” and “The Sopranos” may discourage people from seeking psychological treatment, a new study shows.
Frasier Crane and his brother, Niles both practiced psychiatry on their popular NBC sitcom “Frasier.” Mob boss Tony Soprano had his therapist on HBO’s hit show “The Sopranos.” And HBO has even made therapy the focus of two recent shows — “Tell Me You Love Me” and “In Treatment.”
The research suggests that television’s portrayal of psychological counseling has a profound influence on audiences. Douglas Gentile, one of the study’s authors, said,
Therapists … often are portrayed as buffoons. That’s either by being the jokester, like Frasier, or by being the butt of jokes. In either case, these are not positive portrayals. They do not show the skill, expertise and ethics of professional therapists.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Mental Health Professionals,
Stigma,
Television
You’ve heard all the hurtful words before — words like “psycho,” “wacko,” and “schizo.”
Then there are the offhand descriptions of someone’s behavior as “OCD” or “having a panic attack.”
Advertisements regularly use mental illness symptoms to show how miserable life is without their products. And you’ve seen the jokes about mental health on television referring to “loony bins” and characters in straitjackets.
Mental health conditions are the butt of jokes in popular culture. While there are taboos against making discriminatory remarks about many groups of people, it seems that it’s open season on those with mental illnesses.
Negative portrayals of people with mental illnesses fuel fear and mistrust and reinforce distorted perceptions. They marginalize the mentally ill, making them feel that they are not useful members of society.
But if you or a loved one has a mental illness or has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, you know that these words and gimmicks and attitudes aren’t just harmless fun. They perpetuate the stigma attached to mental health conditions. Stigma and scapegoating makes you angry and upset, and it causes the public to misunderstand mental illnesses.
Though the stigma and scapegoating of a mental health disorder can be painful and shaming, you can find ways to cope with it and even combat it.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Advertisements,
Jokes,
OCD,
Panic Attack,
Scapegoat,
Scapegoating,
Stigma
Do any of these attitudes seem familiar?
- Nearly 6 out of 10 people describe a person with a mental illness as “someone who has to be kept in a psychiatric or mental hospital”
- One third of people think that those with mental health problems should not have the same rights to a job as everyone else
- Only 31 percent of people think that mental hospitals are an outdated means of treating the mentally ill
- 1 in 8 people would not want to live next door to a person with a mental illness
- 5 out of 10 people believe that the mentally ill are violent and a threat to society
These findings are from a poll released by the U.K.’s Department of Health in May, 2008. There is ample evidence to show that the same stigma attached to mental illness in the U.K. is just as operative in the United States.
Other research has found that nearly 9 of 10 people with mental health problems have been affected by scapegoating, stigma and discrimination. Two thirds of the mentally ill say they have stopped doing things because of the stigma they face.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Mental Health,
Mental Illness,
Scapegoat,
Stigma
You might have noticed that sometimes I capitalize the word “anxiety,” and sometimes I don’t. Am I just being sloppy, or is there a reason for it?
There is a reason, and a very simple one. I reserve the capitalized letter for diagnosable Anxiety Disorders, and use the lower-case letter for everything else. I use the little “a” for butterflies in the stomach, and the big “A” for Godzilla’s buddy Mothra flapping around in your belly!
In the English language there is only one word to take care of both the “normal” sense and the psychiatric sense of the feeling of anxiety. This is one of those instances — ”depression” is another — where we could use a different word to name one of those senses. Instead, we are left with one word to describe two very different states of mind.
This ambiguity is confusing for the public, and is the source of untold misery to the millions of Anxiety Disorder sufferers. One of the bedrock principles for this blog is to help you better understand the difference between anxiety and Anxiety. This post introduces you to my way of thinking about these terms and the reasons behind it.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety,
Education,
Stigma
