Engaging Youth and Fighting Stigma, Essay Example

The mental health system must acknowledge stigma in order to effectively eradicate it within itself. It is imperative that the mental health system as a whole reconceptualize how mental illness is perceived and treated. Media depictions of mental illness contribute to the stigmatization of mental illness. As such, a paradigm shift in how mental health is discursively represented is vital as a systems change in order to address stigma within stigmatizing societies such as the United States.
Stigma unequivocally impacts identity formation in adolescents and young adults who suffer from chronic mental illnesses.  It is difficult to combat illness identity due to the fact that the United States and many other western countries operate as stigmatizing systems, thereby rendering it difficult to deconstruct and dismantle barriers that undergird stigma on an idiosyncratic basis. Pariahs who internalize stigma develop an illness identity in adulthood. One way to combat the development of an illness identity is to utilize art in order to facilitate self-discovery and promote a healthy identity. Cultivating creativity through art programs has the potential to combat the insidious nature of stigma, especially for those who suffer from debilitating mental illnesses.

I agree with McReynolds & Garske that stigma is a true disability due to the fact that, like race and gender, disability is also socially and culturally constructed. Stigma is not universal because it varies on an idiosyncratic basis depending on social norms and perceptions of deviance. For example, in predominately Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, women are stigmatized if they wear revealing clothing that shows “too much” skin. However, in Western democratic societies, women have the freedom to wear liberating clothing. Stigma is defined as the impetus for discrimination against individuals or various social groups, thereby rendering them pariahs and justifying their exclusion. Similarly, the very concept of disability alludes to the perception of deviance from the modal subject in a way that excludes individuals exhibiting signs of mental or physical disabilities.

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