Provided by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.
Surgeon General of the United States of America
Chapter 1
The Roots of Stigma
Stigmatization of people with mental disorders
has persisted throughout history. It is manifested by bias, distrust,
stereotyping, fear, embarrassment, anger, and/or avoidance. Stigma leads others
to avoid living, socializing or working with, renting to, or employing people
with mental disorders, especially severe disorders such as schizophrenia (Penn &
Martin, 1998; Corrigan & Penn, 1999). It reduces patients’ access to resources
and opportunities (e.g., housing, jobs) and leads to low self-esteem, isolation,
and hopelessness. It deters the public from seeking, and wanting to pay for,
care. In its most overt and egregious form, stigma results in outright
discrimination and abuse. More tragically, it deprives people of their dignity
and interferes with their full participation in society.
Explanations for stigma stem, in part, from the misguided split between mind and
body first proposed by Descartes. Another source of stigma lies in the
19th-century separation of the mental health treatment system in the United
States from the mainstream of health. These historical influences exert an often
immediate influence on perceptions and behaviors in the modern world.
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