Challenging the Stigma of Mental Illness

Abstract

Understanding and challenging stigma are pressing issues for people with mental health difficulties and for those involved in service provision or mental health promotion. It is currently the focus of national alliances and campaigns such as ‘Time to Change’ in England, ‘See Me’ in Scotland', ‘See Change’ in Ireland and ‘Opening Minds’ in Canada. While there may be a broad consensus that the impact of social stigma may be seriously damaging to people's self-esteem and impair their chances of recovery, there is still a relatively weak evidence base as to what may be effective in tackling stigma (Yanos et al., 2008; Tew et al., 2011). In Challenging the Stigma of Mental Illness, Patrick Corrigan and colleagues seek to provide a practically focused text that is grounded in the experience and narratives of those who have struggled with the impact of stigma on their lives. A particular strength is that it does not shy away from some more difficult areas such as recognising that mental health professionals may be complicit in ‘othering’ people with mental health difficulties to much the same extent as the general population.