Martin JK, Pescosolido BA, Tuch SA. Fear and disgust: The role of “disruptive behaviour”, labels and causal attributions in shaping public attitudes towards people with mental illness. J Health Soc Behav. 2000;41(2):208-23. Change strategies for public stigma have been grouped into three approaches: protest, education and contact (12). Groups are protesting inaccurate and hostile portrayals of mental illness to challenge the stigma they represent. These efforts send two messages. To the media: STOP reporting on inaccurate representations of mental illness. To the public: STOP believing negative opinions about mental illness. Wahl (32) believes that citizens encounter much less punished examples of stigma and stereotyping because of protest efforts.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that protest campaigns have been effective in retracting stigmatizing images of mental illness. However, there is little empirical research on the psychological impact of protest campaigns on stigma and discrimination, suggesting an important direction for future research. The stigma of mental health has been attributed to a number of different factors. Some causes that may play a role include: Stigma refers to a person`s discredit, devaluation, and embarrassment due to traits or traits they possess. In general, stigma leads to negative social experiences such as isolation, rejection, marginalization and discrimination. When related to a health condition such as mental illness, stigma can affect a person`s illness and treatment course, including access to appropriate and professional medical treatment. It has also been reported that stigma affects patients` families or relatives, as well as professionals working in psychiatric institutions. Stigma is strongly influenced by cultural and contextual value systems that differ over time and in different contexts. However, there is little information on how mental illness patients and psychiatric nurses experience stigma in Indonesia. Mental health stigma is defined as the shame, social disapproval or social discredit of people with a mental health problem [4, 5]. The literature identifies several dimensions or types of stigma associated with mental health, including self-stigma, public stigma, occupational stigma, and institutional stigma. Self-stigma refers to a person`s negative attitudes toward their own mental illness and is also known as internalized stigma [1, 6].

Self-stigma has been associated with poor outcomes, such as lack of access to treatment, loss of independence, decreased self-efficacy, and decreased quality of life [7, 8]. Public stigma refers to negative public attitudes towards people with mental illness [1, 6], often based on misunderstandings, fear and prejudice. Public stigma is related to perceived stigma, which is defined as a person`s beliefs about the attitudes of others towards mental illness. Research has shown the significant effects of public stigma, such as discrimination in the workplace and in public institutions [8]. Occupational stigma occurs when health professionals have stigmatizing attitudes toward their patients, often based on fear or misunderstandings about the causes and symptoms of mental illness, or when professionals themselves are stigmatized because of their work and association with stigmatized individuals [1]. Occupational stigma is of particular concern as it can interfere with the care and treatment of a person with mental illness [1], including the treatment of physical illnesses [8], which affects their well-being and recovery. Finally, institutional stigma refers to an organization`s policies or culture of negative attitudes and beliefs toward stigmatized people, such as those with mental health issues [1, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. This stigma can also be reinforced by legal frameworks, public policies and professional practices, thus becoming deeply rooted in society [8]. Shrivastava A, Johnston M, Bureau Y. Stigma of Mental Illness-1: Clinical Reflections. Mr. Sana Monogr.

2012;10(1):70‐84. doi:10.4103/0973-1229.90181 It may be helpful to join a support group from one of the mental health agencies. It can be helpful to meet others in the same situation, and support groups often have resources that can help educate family members and others about mental illness. Media portrayals of people with mental illness can influence perceptions and stigma, and were often negative, inaccurate or violent. A study published in April 2020 looked at a recent example, the popular movie Joker (2019), which portrays the main character as a person with mental illness who becomes extremely violent. The study found that watching the film “was associated with higher levels of prejudice against people with mental illness.” In addition, the authors suggest that “Joker may exacerbate the self-stigma of people with mental illness, resulting in delays in seeking help.” Corrigan PW, Druss BG, Perlick DA. The impact of mental illness stigma on mental health research and participation. Psychol sci public interests. 2014;15:37–70. Brohan E, Thornicroft G.

Stigma and discrimination of mental health problems: impact on the workplace. Wiley; 2010. Manderscheid RW, Ryff CD, Freeman EJ, McKnight-Eily LR, Dhingra S, Strine TW. Development of definitions of mental illness and well-being. Back chronic Dis. 2010;7(1):A19 Stigma is a negative attitude or idea towards a mental, physical or social characteristic of a person or group of people. This implies that there is social disapproval. Stigma is a big problem because it can have negative effects such as discrimination. Tristiana RD, Yusuf A, Fitryasari R, et al. Perceived barriers to mental health services by the family of patients with mental illness. Int J Nurs Sci. 2018;5:63–7.

doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2017.12.003. Participating patients also believed they had been rejected, rejected and discriminated against because they had a mental illness. In addition, they reported that community members rejected them because society had false assumptions about mental illness.