Treating the cause, not the symptoms, of mental illness stigma

Abstract

People with mental illness are frequently faced with stigmatising attitudes that make daily life a struggle. Often, these attitudes are a result of misinformation about the nature of mental health problems, including beliefs such as that people with mental disorders are violent, incompetent, and to be blamed for their illness.1 More often than not, people with mental illness begin to internalise these beliefs, which can lead to decreased self-esteem, quality of life, and social withdrawal.2 Unfortunately, attempts to design interventions aimed at reducing the internalisation of stigma have proven largely unsuccessful.