Stigma and discrimination
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
This article is 9 years old.
Click here to view the latest articles for this topic.
Stigma is experienced by people affected by depression when negative judgements are made about them based on the condition, usually as a result of stereotypes, misconceptions or fear. Stigma can take many forms. It may be someone making an unpleasant remark or ignoring you; or assumptions being made about the kind of person you are or your abilities. Discrimination is the active part of stigma, when someone is not only judged because of the condition they experience but is actually treated differently.
It may seem that understanding and awareness of mental health problems is improving but many studies have shown that stigma is still widespread. Consider the following statistics:
- The most common mental illnesses are anxiety and depression (22% of the population) but when asked to describe mental illness 63% of people said it was ‘someone with schizophrenia’ (which affects just 1% of the population). This figure has increased from 56% ten years ago (Department of Health 2007).
- Th...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
