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Post Traumatic Stress Disorders Case Study

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Mental health issues affect more than 41 million Americans in a given year (Meinert 2014). These issues can range from depression to post traumatic stress disorder. One of many workplace issues is the discrimination of people with a mental health illness due to stigma. It is a company’s moral and ethical obligation to combat stigma within the workplace to promote a safe and productive work environment that allows their employees to feel supported so they can pursue treatment options and access their entitled benefits.
There are many misconceptions about how people with a mental illness function within the workplace. These misconceptions are that people with a mental illness cannot handle stress, they are unpredictable and violent, their conditions …show more content…

Oxford Dictionary defines stigma as “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person”(Oxford Dictionaries). The three main subjects that make up stigma are knowledge, attitudes, and behavior (Thornicroft, Brohan, 2010). For people who have a mental disorder, a stigma present within the workplace can result in several forms of discrimination against the individual (Corbière et al, 2012). It can cause them to feel socially excluded, guilty, ashamed, and inferior (Corbière et al, 2012). Shrivastava et al cited Franz et al who did a study that shows how stigma plays a significant role in a patient seeking out and continuing treatment, being compliant, and reaching favorable levels and outcomes of functioning (Shrivastava et al 2013). They also explained in their 2013 Psychiatry journal that the presence of a stigma can create complications for a individual with mental health issues such as “…A delay in treatment seeking, worsens course and outcomes, reduces compliance, and increases the risk of relapse: causing further disability, discrimination, and isolation even in persons who have accessed mental health services” (Shrivastava et al 2013). Phillip Landau of The …show more content…

Wikipedia explains that employment discrimination is “a form of discrimination based on race, gender, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, and age by employers”(Wikipedia, n.d.). There are acts that protect people with mental illnesses against discrimination in the workplace such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA n.d.) 11. It is one of the biggest ones and even though this federal law is there for protection against discrimination, with the exception of state wide laws, it can still happen. For example, whether the employee in question gets fired and it is disguised as downsizing or if they are facing discrimination of any kind by colleagues and people in command once they disclose their illness. One of the many ethical issues regarding mental health disorders is the lack of public awareness on the subject and limited knowledge on it (Ngui et al, 2010). The more limited knowledge an individual has the more misinformed they are and that can create a negative impact and further promote the stigma associated with mental disorders. For example, someone could make the assumption that a mentally ill colleague’s work is not as good compared to a person without a mental illness, one could make the assumption that they are violent and will eventually have a dangerous

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In class, we discussed Modified Labeling Theory when looking at Mental illness. Modified Labeling Theory says that being labeled as mentally ill can cause ones self-esteem to lower because they begin to accept the stigmas that come with being labeled mentally ill. As stated in both the article and in chapter 8 of Social Psychology: Sociological Perspectives, this theory discusses how one individuals are labeled as mental patients, or as having a mental illness, they fear being identified as “crazy”, they realize they also risk being devalued in society as well as being discriminated against due to their mental illness. Thoits suggests that these individuals inadvertently accept what society says about them, but they use coping strategies to avoid the negative consequences (Thoits 2011). The coping strategies mentioned are being secretive about their medical history, withdrawing from social interactions from those who aren’t close family or friends and education others about their mental illness (Thoits 2011: 8).

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Most adults are afraid of being dianois with a mental illness due to prejudices and stereotypes of people with mental illness being unpredictable, incompetent and dangerous. With these stereotypes it makes it harder for a person to find a job or find a landlord that would rent to them, leading to more undiagnosed cases of mental illness producing more self stigma inside of a victim, and creating lower self esteem, reduced hope and difficulty at work. More can include bullying and harassment, lack of understanding from family and friends, and fewer opportunities for work, social gatherings and housing problems. The 2019 national poll from the American Psychiatric Association shows that mental illness stigma is a problem in the workplace and only one in five workers feels completely safe talking about mental health but luckily almost half works felt safe talking about mental health. (Stigma, Prejudice and Discrimination Against People With Mental Illness,

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In the second issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest Vol. 15, Corrigan, Druss and Perlick (2014) discuss the role of stigma in limiting access to care and in discouraging people from pursuing mental health treatment. From a public standpoint, the stereotypes that people with mental illness are dangerous, unpredictable, responsible for their illness (Crisp et al, 2000), or generally inept, can lead to active discrimination, such as excluding people with these conditions from employment and social or educational opportunities (Parle S 2012). Furthermore, service users have recorded incidents of social discrimination in the community, such as being physically and verbally attacked by neighbours as well as strangers, having their property vandalised, or being barred from entering a range of businesses, and that those with addictions or psychotic illness were more likely to experience this than those with non-psychotic illness. Examples of being spoken to as if they were stupid or like children, patronising behaviour and attitude from the community and, in some instances, having questions addressed to those accompanying them rather than service users themselves were also reported (Lyons et al, 2009).

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This stigma can lead to people with mental illness not seeking treatment or stopping treatment due to

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They are seen as inferior, almost unworthy of respect, and are treated as youthful children when spoken to. These actions are what make people believe that there is something wrong with them, even if in the beginning there is not. I do not believe that the rest of the population is aware of how their actions affect the ‘mentally ill’ negatively. The memoir grants the reader to accept that stigmas are built on unstable ground due to their foundation being set in stone upon forced

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The stigma of mental illnesses has caused others to forget the seriousness and severity of it, especially those suffering from it. Eliminating this stigma would help in educating others and further recognize mental illnesses as any other

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Some forms of prejudices that these people encounter are, prejudices from service providers on the client’s medications, an idea that the client is incapable of learning or achieving desirable results, false perceptions in the media that mental health problems lead to a more violent person, and sometimes the clients are not validated but instead are accused of making the disorders up for attention. Changes in the

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Like all form of disparities, mental health disparities is a serious challenge for minorities’ communities across America. Individuals with mental health illness how do not receive adequate health care due to variations can be affected in many ways. When their mental illness progress without any diagnosis they can easily be perceived as a threat to society. In cases where crimes are committed, and they cannot prove they are mentally challenged they can be charge and send to prison without being diagnosed which could affect their condition due to the lack of treatment. Without eradicating or implementing policies to deal with mental health disparities the probability of legally or morally assuming that people with mental health challenges are

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Stigma of Mental Illness The stigma of mental illness has a staggering presence in American society. Stigma is “... a socio-cultural process by which members of marginalized groups are labeled by other people as abnormal, shameful, or otherwise undesirable” (Michaels, Lopez, & Corrigan, 2012). A 2013 nationwide survey revealed that 46% of Americans believed that the seriously mentally ill were more likely to be dangerous than members of the the general public (McGinty, Webster, & Barry, 2014). These negative attitudes are also held by mental health professionals, which most likely results from them “...working with patients when they are in the most disturbed phase of their illness, despite this not being a typical characteristic of everyday mental illness” (Cleary, Deacon, Jackson, Andrew, & Chan, 2012).

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The stigma’s greatest advocate is the general public’s ignorance on the subject of Schizophrenia. That coupled with the media’s portrayal of Schizophrenia leads to an unfounded stigma that society perpetuates (Ellison et al 341). One of the universal facts about mankind is that they have a fear of the unknown. In relation to Schizophrenia, the unknown is the illness itself and following that scenario, the lack of knowledge leads to a fear of the illness. Due to the lack of knowledge about the true nature of the illness, the general public is more inclined to allow other information to fill in the void.

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All of which have a negative impact on those who suffer from mental health issues. Some examples of stigmas that can be used in the workplace and about mental health are name-calling, misrepresentation, mockery, avoidance, and playing down symptoms. “About 75% of employees have struggled with an issue that affected their mental health. Yet, 8 out of 10 workers with a mental health condition say shame and stigma prevent them from seeking mental health care." (Mordecai,

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“The disabled among us are clearly defined not only as those with physical impairments but also those with hidden disabilities such as mental health issues” (Ravello). Physical illness can be brought up through the news, the internet, and by word of mouth. Whereas mental illness is constantly flying under the radar, occurring over and over, but when it finally gets brought up everyone is either alarmed or pretends to care. Society does not show enough love to the people struggling through life, constantly having this weight on them believing that they are “broken or damaged” (Theriault). They definitely do not aid in giving these individuals a more “normal” feeling when it is already “hard to hold steady relationships and be socially included in mainstream society due to the stigma surrounding them” (Theriault).

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( Yin-Ju Lien, Yu-Chen Kao, Yia-Ping Liu, Hsin-An Chang, Nian-Sheng Tzeng, Chien-Wen Lu, Ching-Hui Loh. (2014).) Addressing how the stigma of mental illness can place an inescapable stress and burden onto the

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Full disclosure of mental illness can make you to be forever stigmatized, at least in Korea (McDonald, ). However, it seems as more and

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Stigmatization of mental illness existed well before psychiatry became a formal discipline, but was not formally labeled and defined as a societal problem until the publication of Goffman’s book (1963). Mental illnesses are among the most stigmatizing conditions, regardless of the specific psychiatric diagnosis. Unlike other illnesses, mental illness is still considered by some to be a sign of weakness, as well as a source of shame and disgrace. Many psychiatric patients are concerned about how people will view them if knowledge of their condition becomes public Mental health stigma can be divided into two distinct types: • social stigma is characterized by prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behavior directed towards individuals with mental health problems as a result of the psychiatric label they have been given and has those types stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination Stereotypes are based on knowledge available to members of a group and provide a way to categorize information about other groups in society Prejudiced persons agree with these negative stereotypes, and these attitudes lead to discrimination through negative behaviors toward mentally ill individuals those negative perceptions create fear of and social distance from mentally ill persons. • perceived stigma or

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