Self-Disclosure and Non-Communication: Stigma Management in Third-Sector Transitional Employment.

Elina Weiste,Camilla Lindholm,Taina Valkeapää,Miira Niska,Melisa Stevanovic,Tommi Ostrovskij

doi:10.3390/ijerph182211840

Abstract

People who are recovering from a mental illness often have difficulties finding and maintaining employment. One of the main reasons for these difficulties is the negative label, or stigma, attached to mental illnesses. People who possess stigmatizing characteristics may use compensatory stigma management strategies to reduce discrimination. Due to mental illnesses’ invisible characteristics, information control is an important stigma management strategy. People can often choose whether they disclose or non-communicate their illness. Nevertheless, it might be difficult to decide when and to whom to disclose or non-communicate the stigma. Since stigma management is a dilemmatic process, workers in mental health services play an important role in informing their clients of when it is best to disclose or non-communicate their illness. In this article, we adopt the perspective of discursive social psychology to investigate how workers of one mental health service programme evaluate and construct self-disclosure and non-communication as stigma management strategies. We demonstrate how these workers recommend non-communication and formulate strict stipulations for self-disclosure. At the same time, they differentiate non-communication from lying or providing false information. The study contributes to an improved understanding of stigma management in contemporary mental health services.

Highlights

At the beginning of Excerpt 1a, staff member SM1 highlights how the Clubhouse organization has been able to create hundreds of job contracts with employers. He continues by noting that he has contacted potential employers, he has tried to non-communicate the fact that he is looking for jobs for people who are recovering from mental illnesses
In the Transitional Employment (TE) context, the disclosure of one’s history of mental illness may lead to stigmatization and discrimination
We investigated the ways in which self-disclosure and non-communication, as stigma management strategies, were evaluated and constructed, or talked into being during staff members’ and Clubhouse members’ interaction

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The employment of people who are recovering from a mental illness is a major societal aim across the world. The participation of rehabilitees in meaningful work is beneficial for them and is necessary for societies that struggle with the economic burden caused by mental disorders [1]. People who are recovering from a mental illness have great difficulties finding and maintaining employment [2]. The key problem is the negative label attached to mental illnesses. This label is commonly conceptualised as stigma

Methods

Results

Conclusion