Mental Illness and Stigma: Impact on the Rehabilitation Process
Mintah-Asare, Antoinette (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023121035799
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023121035799
Tiivistelmä
Mentally ill young people are stigmatized as weak, aggressive, and socially inappropriate. It is also believed that they are unable to hold significant societal positions. Youth who experience stigma and discrimination are less likely to seek help. Approximately 50% of young people by 14 years of age and 75% by 24 years of age suffer from mental illness.
This research explored young people's experiences of stigma and discrimination living with mental illness, as well as the barriers to seeking therapy. It also examined how digital services can help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.
The study involved ten rehabilitation clients and three caregivers. Clients were interviewed in focus groups and caregivers were surveyed with open-ended questions. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, a qualitative method of discovering people's thoughts, views, experiences, skills, or values.
Discrimination and stigma cause severe mental illness, depression, and isolation in young people. The negative experiences of young people with mental illness can lead them to seek out support from their peers. Treatment barriers are cost, self-denial, attitudes about mental illness, and lack of multi-professional staff. Digital mental health services apps for rehabilitation seem like a promising method of eliminating barriers for the younger generation to seek treatment without being judged.
Society is impacted negatively by mental illness stigmatization. Youth with mental illness has detrimental effects, which must be recognized by the public. People who desire treatment may not know where to start, and therapy can be expensive. It is undeniable that digital mental health services apps will make getting treatment easier, cheaper, and less stigmatizing. The app could remove the difficulties in scheduling an appointment, lower the cost of therapy, and reduce lengthy waiting lists.
This research explored young people's experiences of stigma and discrimination living with mental illness, as well as the barriers to seeking therapy. It also examined how digital services can help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.
The study involved ten rehabilitation clients and three caregivers. Clients were interviewed in focus groups and caregivers were surveyed with open-ended questions. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, a qualitative method of discovering people's thoughts, views, experiences, skills, or values.
Discrimination and stigma cause severe mental illness, depression, and isolation in young people. The negative experiences of young people with mental illness can lead them to seek out support from their peers. Treatment barriers are cost, self-denial, attitudes about mental illness, and lack of multi-professional staff. Digital mental health services apps for rehabilitation seem like a promising method of eliminating barriers for the younger generation to seek treatment without being judged.
Society is impacted negatively by mental illness stigmatization. Youth with mental illness has detrimental effects, which must be recognized by the public. People who desire treatment may not know where to start, and therapy can be expensive. It is undeniable that digital mental health services apps will make getting treatment easier, cheaper, and less stigmatizing. The app could remove the difficulties in scheduling an appointment, lower the cost of therapy, and reduce lengthy waiting lists.