MENTAL HEALTHStigma of Mental Illness: Lesson

#7

QUESTIONS…

1. What are some of the negative things you have heard about people with mental illness?

2. What are some of the positive things you have heard about people with mental illness?

3. What is a stigma? 4. Why do you think people with mental

illness are stigmatized? 5. Can you think of any other health

conditions or social issues that have been stigmatized?

QUESTIONS

6. What kinds of factors have contributed to changing public attitudes around some of these conditions or issues?

7. What do you think influences perceptions about mental illness?

8. How do you think stigma affects the lives of people with mental illness?

Stigma is…

A cluster of negative attitudes and beliefs that motivate the general public to fear, reject, avoid and discriminate against people with mental illness

About disrespect The use of negative labels to identify a

person living with mental illness A barrier

FEAR OF STIGMA

And the discrimination that comes with it discourages individuals and families from getting the help they need.

VIDEO: Courageous not Crazy

Watch first two sections

Reducing Stigma…What works?

Providing information based on reliable research

Effective advocacy and public education programs

Proximity or direct contact with people with mental illness

Programs that help people to become better integrated in the community

Treatments and supports

Reducing Stigma…What works?

Learn more about mental illness Listen to people who have experienced

mental illness Watch your language Respond to stigmatizing material in the

media Speak up about stigma Talk openly about mental illness Demand change from elected representatives Provide support for organizations that fight

stigma

Definitions

MENTAL HEALTH – the emotional and spiritual resilience that enables us to enjoy life and survive pain, disappointment, and sadness. It is a positive sense of well-being and an underlying belief in our own and other’s self worth

Who’s got mental health?

Everyone – we all have mental health just like we all have physical health. People with mental illness also have mental health, just as people with a physical illness also have physical well-being

Definitions

MENTAL ILLNESS – a term that describes a variety of psychiatric (emotional, thinking and behavioural) problems that vary in intensity and duration, and may recur from time to time. Major mental illnesses include Anxiety, Mood, Eating, and Psychotic Disorders. Mental illnesses are diagnosable conditions that require medical treatment as well as other supports.

MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS – refer to the more common struggles and adjustment difficulties that affect everybody from time to time. These tend to happen when people are going through difficult times in life (relationship ending, death, conflict in relations with family or friends, stresses at home, school or work). These are usually short term reactions to a particular stressor, painful event or illness.

VIDEO: Resources

Watch the third part of video series on resources that can help

WEBSITE:

www.cmha.ca/highschoolcurriculum Go to module 2/activity2: Mental Health

and Mental Illness: The Common Basis / watch together and complete questions that go with it

We are going to examine how brain functioning works in order to later examine some mental illnesses where brain functioning is not functioning properly