MENTAL HEALTH AND STIGMA
STIGMA SURVEY RESULTS
A survey was undertaken in November 2021 to capture feedback from those in Surrey with experience of mental health problems (either direct or indirect e.g. as a carer, family member, friend), about any stigma or discrimination they may have faced, or may face.
Mental ill health can affect anyone, anytime, anywhere. One in 10 children live with mental distress and 50% of all mental illnesses are established by the age of 14 and 75% by the age of 25. These statistics are being reviewed in light of the pandemic which we know has impacted the mental wellbeing of many children, young people and adults.
As you have physical ill health, so you can have mental ill health. There are many diagnoses in mental health, for example, depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, personality disorders, schizophrenia, psychosis and post-natal depression. Each illness, as with physical illness, has its own symptoms and each person might experience the illness differently.
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WANT TO GEt INVOLVED?
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With our main aim to challenge and reduce the mental health stigma and discrimination people who live with mental health issues – and often their carers – face, we want to find out more about the type of stigma people experience; where, when and who. We have developed training to help people deal with stigma but also to look at some ways they might help people and organisations see the impact they have on someone through words, behaviour, culture and policy.
Talking openly is the key to better understanding and changing people’s perceptions, unconscious (or conscious) bias and attitudes.
People who experience mental health problems often say that the stigma and discrimination they experience as a result can be a bigger burden than the actual symptoms of the mental health problem.
The impact of stigma and discrimination affects many aspects of peoples’ lives, for example:
- friendships can be lost,
- exclusion from everyday activities,
- harder to get or keep a job,
- reluctance to seek help,
- physical health can be affected,
- financial penalties (e.g. difficulties obtaining certain insurance/higher premiums).
A short survey to see where people were experiencing stigma was undertaken in 2020. The results showed the following percentage of people who reported they had been subject to mental health stigma and discrimination:
A new more in-depth survey will be published shortly. Later in the year we will be inviting people to join focus groups to discuss mental health stigma and how we can all do something to reduce it.
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WANT TO GEt INVOLVED?
Want to share your story, become a Lived Experience Champion or follow us on social media?
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