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Stigma in Mental Health at the Macro and Micro Levels: Implications for Mental Health Consumers and Professionals

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Abstract

Despite increasing mental health promotion and advocacy, stigma persists and poses a significant threat to the healthy functioning at the macro and micro-sociological levels. Stigma is gradually evolving with the incorporation of broader social contexts at the micro and macro levels in which individuals, institutions and larger cultural constructs shape and influence the perception of what is different and therefore stigmatized. This theoretical paper based on literature underscores how mental health stigma discourages individuals from getting proper mental health treatment. The interface of mental illness, stigma, and mental health treatment has ethical and potentially moral implications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences and the Institute of Family and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    Sharon M. Holder

  2. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, Greenville Health System, 701 Grove Road, Greenville, SC, 29605, USA

    Sharon M. Holder & Eunice R. Peterson

  3. South Carolina Department of Mental Health, Greenville Mental Health Center, 124 Mallard Street, Greenville, SC, 29601, USA

    Rebecca Stephens

  4. Department of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, 513 Edwards Hall, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Lee A. Crandall

Authors
  1. Sharon M. Holder
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  2. Eunice R. Peterson
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  3. Rebecca Stephens
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  4. Lee A. Crandall
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Correspondence to Sharon M. Holder.

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Holder, S.M., Peterson, E.R., Stephens, R. et al. Stigma in Mental Health at the Macro and Micro Levels: Implications for Mental Health Consumers and Professionals. Community Ment Health J 55, 369–374 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0308-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0308-y

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