Psychology, Society & Education (Nov 2012)
FROM THE SELF-STIGMATIZATION OF THE ORIGINS OF THE STIGMATIZATION PROCESS. WITH REGARD TO THE SURVAY «MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GENERAL POPULATION: IMAGES AND REALITIES» IN FRANCE ANS 17 COUNTRIES
Abstract
The archetype of the ‘mad’ represents the paradigm of the otigmatization process and the history of madness appear as an attempt to make it disappear by their medicalization for the benefit of the concept of ‘mental illness ‘. The SMPG international survey results show the failure of the medicalization of madness to reduce stigma. This investigation describes the social representations associated to the archetypes of the ‘mad’, the “mentally ill” and the “depressed”.Made in France (67 sites) and in 17 countries (20 international sites), she describes the variants and invariants of these three archetypes.It describes the factors of significant stigmatization for the group ‘ mad /mentally ill ‘: non-responsibility, non-controllability, medicalization, poor prognosis and dangerousness. Regardless of the country, the hard core of representations combining madness and danger is rooted in the collective imagination and the “mentally ill” bears the attributes of a ‘mad’ medicalized. Conversely, the “depressive” label seems more acceptable and less exposed to stigma.Very few people recognize themselves in the collective representation of the ‘mad’ or the ‘mentally ill’, even those who have diagnosed mental disorders.Therefore, how to exit to the dichotomies madness/reason, us /them that are at the base of the process of stigmatization, if for all the people, and even people who have mental disorders, mad it is the other? This may be the role of the patients themselves to combat the stigma and self-stigma in the years to come.
