Example Of Stigma And Discrimination Towards People With Mental Health Essay

Time-To-Change contributions towards fighting discrimination and Stigmatization towards People with Mental Health

In the recent world, most people tend to disassociate with the mentally challenged person to avoid becoming the laughing stock in the country. Additionally, such people receive and witness a lot of stigmatization due to the labeling by the community members. As a result, they indulge in weird and harmful activities, but no one bothers to direct them. However, the communities should understand that mentally ill persons need care and protection to help in recovering (CORRIGAN, et al., 2011, p. 109). For this reason, most mentally challenged people end up becoming dirty and lack shelter. Nevertheless, some humanitarian organizations, for instance, Time-To-Change (UK) have come to the aid of the stigmatization of the mentally ill persons to help in the reduction of the stigmatization in the societies.
Consequently, stigmatization has deprived a lot of positive things about the mentally ill persons. The attitude of the societies towards such people by the society members could lead to an upsurge of enmity between the community members and the mentally ill families. As a result, it tends to create a wide gap between the community members thereby hindering creation of social ties. Additionally, the social ties enhance and promote security in the communities leading to economic development (NELSON, et al., 2014, p. 276). On the other hand, the alienation leads to the development of depression and stress in such people because no one associates with them. As a result, the mental illness intensifies and sometimes a simple mental illness would intensify due to the emotions that come from alienation. However, to curb this vice, the Time-To-Change organization increases education and information about how to treat mentally ill persons thereby bridging the alienation gap.
However, due to the perception people towards mentally ill persons, those who get the illness while at work lose their jobs. It is because the companies feel at risk of having such a person as an employee in a company. Therefore, the loss of means of earning deteriorates the mental problem. Additionally, the employers totally disconnect from mentally ill persons, and they extend no service to them, and this leads to depression and a lot of constraining. For this reason, the organization produces reports in different areas revolving around the mental illnesses (SOREL, 2013, p. 147). Therefore, employers should get such people to support groups, psychologists, and hospitals, where they can access help thereby avoiding squandering of all their salaries. In the end, the people end up helped the mentally ill through getting them the relevant support.
Nonetheless, the organization has also produced reports to help and encourage the target audience. That is; the relatives of the mentally ill persons should reduce stigmatization and discrimination. For this reason, they provide the adequate materials that help the family members and the society to relate well with the mentally ill (GREAT BRITAIN. (2007, p. 236). They also outline the symptoms of the illness to help in its early detection because; doctors could control its prevalence if detected early. Additionally, the reports also provide some source of encouragement to the families, and they also help them relate to avoiding the discrimination. However, understanding the mentally ill persons is essential because it also reduces the stress from the family members. Therefore, know what to expect from such people thereby they do not get shocked or surprised on certain occurrences.
Subsequently, to reach greater masses of people, the organization uses the media to increase awareness concerning the mentally ill people. Therefore, most people got to understand thereby easing the tension in the families and societies. Additionally, the communities would tend to listen more on the media personalities due to their popularity as opposed to using a normal person. Therefore, the society members implement the pleas made to them concerning the mentally ill persons. On the other hand, covering of cases of the mentally ill persons has led to more care for such people because most of the families would never want the ridicule and the condemnation in the societies.
Moreover, the organization has also helped people realize that the mentally ill should also enjoy equal rights and freedoms. Therefore, depriving any of them could lead to colliding with the rules of law (DUDLEY, et al., 2012, p. 322). As a result, it compels the family members in ensuring that such people enjoy all the privileges of the rest of the family members. Additionally, the organization also corrects the journalists if they air a tainted version of the people with mental illness. For example, the organization took it upon itself to shed some light on the story aired by BBC on Ayesha Ali’s case. As a result, it showed that the organization understands well what goes on in the ground. Additionally, when reporting such cases, the journalists should also observe the right to privacy because publicizing such issues increases the discrimination and stigmatization rates.
On the other hand, children and young adults are also prone to mental illness, and if not handled well, it affects them more than it would on older people. The discrimination on the young ones leads to the creation and development of self-pity. At times, the situation could lead to the withdrawal nature among them thereby increasing chances of harming themselves. As a result, the challenge deprives many children of their childhood due to the failure to interact with the peers. In some cases, some of the mentally ill persons commit serious crimes like murder or even suicide due to the neglecting from the society (KNIFTON, & QUINN, 2013, p. 183). Therefore, to curb the menace, the organization uses the celebrities to tackle and talk about the issue, and to educate the society on what they should do to stop it. For instance, the organization once used Kate Middleton to persuade the communities to take care of the mentally ill children and young adults.
Additionally, the organization publishes some blogs on their website to share cases of the mental illness. For example, the blog that involved someone whose religion became a hindrance in opening a mental illness center. It shows the extent, which the religious bodies overlook. Normally, people would think that the religious people and places would offer the refuge to the mentally ill persons, but it is totally the opposite (PATEL, et al., 2014, p. 197). As a result, the religious people end up fearing in helping the mentally challenged persons due to the rules and laws of the religions. For this reason, the mentally ill persons hate the religions and churches, and could even try to eliminate those who appear as hindrances to their help.
Nevertheless, the organization has managed to change the peoples; attitude and behavior towards the mentally ill persons. As a result, it helps in the reduction of the discrimination levels. Research showed that the discrimination level significantly reduced by 11.5% when they incepted the campaigns. Therefore, it means that most people associate well with the mentally ill. As a result, they also begin developing a sense of belonging, and it helps greatly in the recovery process due to the easy association and interaction with the people.
Conversely, the organization also aims at providing the mental health services to the affected. Therefore, the Time-To-Change’s managements have encouraged corporate bodies and individuals to contribute funds that the mentally ill persons could use to access the medical and psychological care (WEINSTEIN, J. (2010, p. 201). The medical care is essential because it helps in regulating their emotions. Additionally, most of the mentally ill persons remain with the challenge due to the inability to meet the financial expenses to access the facilities. Therefore, provision of the health care helps in the reduction of the mental illness cases. On the other hand, the treatment of such persons proves to the community members that there are second chances to the victims because some of them are treated and controlled. Therefore, the cure and treatment lead to a decline in the discrimination and stigmatization rate.
In conclusion, many organizations should emulate the Time-To-Change organization. It helps to improve the public images of such firms due to participation in social responsibilities in the communities. Therefore, they end up winning the customers’ loyalty thereby increasing their profitability levels. Nevertheless, the sociologists and the humanitarian aids should pool their resources together to ensure that the mentally ill persons do not face the discrimination and the stigmatization in the societies (PILGRIM, 2014, p. 253). Additionally, the legislators should also draft and implement rules and regulations towards treatment of mentally ill persons to help in reducing the stigmatization, which brings a lot of negative effects.

References

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