Is that courtesy stigma? The issue of the stigmatization of psychiatry,psychiatrists and psychotherapists

Abstract

The stigma of mental illness covers negative attitudes and convictions toward mentally ill people. Stigmatization results in perceiving stigmatized individuals as worse than other members of the society. This phenomenon is a social problem affecting almost all mentally ill patients and manifests in severe impairment of their social functioning. In the development of stigmatization there can be distinguished successive, logically connected stages, such as labeling, stereotyping, separating, discrimination. According to Goffman’s theory people who work with the stigmatized social groups receive the so called “courtesy stigma”, which can be described as the public disapproval resulting from associating with stigmatized individual or group. Courtesy stigma affects family members of stigmatized individuals, therapists, people working in the health and social welfare services. The World Psychiatric Association appreciating the importance of the problem of stigmatization has initiated diverse activities with the aim to improve the image of psychiatry and to reduce stigmatizing attitudes toward psychiatry and psychiatrists. The mass media have great influence in shaping people’s attitudes towards psychiatry as a medical discipline, psychiatrists and mentally ill individuals. Cooperation with the representatives of mass media and providing them with reliable data concerning mental public health are important challenges for contemporary psychiatry. It seems very important to dissuade people who take part in creating reality through mass media from creating and using unjust stereotypes. Counteracting the stigmatization of psychiatry is very important for improving the situation of mentally ill people, their relatives and the society in general. In the article there can be found a review of studies on stigmatization of psychiatrists, therapists and of psychiatry as a medical discipline.