Causation and social distance in mental health - Essay Example

351). This paper will explore the relationship between mental health issues and the society, discussing the role of the media in reporting mental health issues – worsening the discrimination of the mentally ill. Different studies exploring the relationship that exists between public beliefs and the social distance created towards people with mental health issues, particularly depression and schizophrenia shows similar results across different cultural settings (Dietrich et al. 348-354). Among the individuals questioned about the relationship – despite being from different cultures – it was evident that certain trends can be attributed to the development of mental health issues (Dietrich et al. 348-354). The factors attributed to the development of schizophrenia and depression includes acute stress, which was attributed to life events; the second factor was biological inclinations, where heredity or brain damage was commonly attributed to the development of schizophrenia but not depression. . Pescosolido reports that the deinstitutionalization of mental healthcare led to a wide array of contradictory responses (1).

The general attitudes of the society as a whole, their beliefs and their behavioral inclination show that targeted stigma has been amplified by the reporting of different channels of the media, mainly due to the inaccuracies evident in the definitions and the explanations made about mental health issues (17-19). Corrigan and Watson ‘s study held the views that the fabric for social stigmatization is embedded within the social structure of the society, despite the fact that the media’s inaccurate reporting and the misrepresentation of mental illnesses makes the problem even worse (16-20).

Corrigan and Watson’s study concludes by stating that the role of the media in reporting mental health issues should be channelled towards the ways of reducing the stigmatization and the discrimination of the mentally ill, at different spheres of life. For example, due to the misrepresentation of the mentally ill, the social exclusion of the mentally ill has widened to cover places that were insignificantly covered by discrimination, including social institutions. The study concludes that self-stigma and public stigma is shaped by three components: prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination, and these have been filtered through the inaccurate reporting of the media as well as the delineation of the mentally ill, which can be reversed over time (Corrigan and Watson 18-20).

The findings of the three studies show that the public beliefs and the social distance created around people with mental health issues – particularly depression and schizophrenia –