In everyday life, we rely heavily on nonverbal communication to gather information. A person pacing could be interpreted as stressed or impatient, unless that person is known to have a mental illness. Then as Sedgwick argues, we have a propensity \u201c\u2026to attach complex social meanings to acts and behaviors that\u2026would be interpreted in the light of quite different concepts\u201d (1972, p.206). Put another way, the behavior may not change, but the interpretive frame, and the subsequent social consequences, will with diagnostic labels.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s not a huge body of research on this topic, the claim is far from theoretical or anecdotal. Estroff et al. finds that people with severe mental illness can struggle to differentiate between their authentic personality and the stereotypes projected onto them by society (1991, p.361). One of the study\u2019s participants is quoted as saying they constantly catch themselves \u201ctrying to prove that I\u2019m normal or can handle things, but until the verdict\u2019s in, I really don\u2019t know\u201d (Estroff et al., 1991, p.331). Expanding Sedgwick\u2019s argument into this context, we see how stigmatization can cause those with mental illness(es) to base their sense of normalcy or stability on the way that other people interpret their behaviors. Ultimately, shifting away from patterns of stigmatizing behavioral interpretation requires increased public education and a foundational change in how people think about the behavior of fellow humans (Byrne, 2000, p.67; Thoits, 2011, p.15). Rather than simply accepting the fact that we judge the actions of others, we have to challenge ourselves to ask questions such as \u201cwhat assumptions am I making about this person because of the behavior I see?\u201d. In the case of those we know with mental illness, we must ask ourselves \u201cdo I unknowingly view this person\u2019 behavior through the lens of my own stigmatized understanding of their illness?\u201d. Only then can we start to strip diagnostic labels of their power over behavior.<\/p>\n References:<\/strong> In everyday life, we rely heavily on nonverbal communication to gather information. A person pacing could be interpreted as stressed or impatient, unless that person is known to have a mental illness. Then as Sedgwick argues, we have a propensity \u201c\u2026to attach complex social meanings to acts and behaviors that\u2026would be interpreted in the light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25669,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25669"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3272,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3271\/revisions\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nInstitutional Settings<\/strong>
\nChew-Graham et al. finds that some medical students fear seeking help for their stress would deem them unfit as future medical professionals and change the way that future colleagues view their competence (2003, p.873). The students that didn\u2019t seek help suffered from the same symptoms as their counterparts that did, but the risk of being associated with mental illness was enough to stop them from seeking any professional help (2003, p,878). Similarly, Mittal et al. finds that combat veterans suffering with PTSD hesitate \u201cto seek treatment to avoid the \u2018crazy\u2019 label\u201d. Their fear is that such a label will reframe their emotions, decisions, and behaviors in a negative way (2013, p.90).
\nCultural Expectations<\/strong>
\nCultural expectations not only amplify this problem but can also make it harder to address. Smart and Wegner find that women with eating disorders often try to mask behaviors rather than seek professional treatment for fear of being perceived as \u201cless normal\u201d. However, the masking only causes them further harm. They are more likely to suffer from intrusive thoughts about their eating disorder and more likely to perceive eating disorder characteristics in other people (i.e., project their experience) (1999, p.481). Similarly, Ellis et al. highlight the pressures that African American men feel to appear impermeable to stress. They describe how participants commonly turn to behaviors such as increased (or decreased) exercise and increased (or decreased) eating when stressed in lieu of talking to their partner or a professional (2015, p.110). These examples show how behaviors being associated with certain diagnoses robs people of the benefit of contextual interpretation; what otherwise might be seen as change in exercise simply due to a stretch of bad sleep becomes a change in exercise due to mental instability.
\nViolence<\/strong>
\nDiagnostic stigma can also influence the way harmful or violent behavior is interpreted. For example, the primary claim of Ordinary Men is that the violent actions of Reserve Police Battalion 101 can be explained by a desire to conform to social pressures (Browning, 1992). Yet when Ed (a man with mental illness interviewed by Estroff et al.) was triggered and subsequently attacked furniture in his parent\u2019s home, they had him involuntarily committed to a hospital (Estroff et al., 1991, p.335). This contrast calls attention to the ways that diagnostic labels create a willingness to view \u201cacting out\u201d as something that needs to be punished rather than something that needs to be further understood.<\/p>\n
\nBrowning, C. R., & Mazal Holocaust Collection. (1992). Ordinary men\u202f: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland (1st ed.). HarperCollins.
\nByrne, P. (2000). Stigma of mental illness and ways of diminishing it. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment\u202f: The Royal College of Psychiatrists\u2019 Journal of Continuing Professional Development, 6(1), 65\u201372. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1192\/apt.6.1.65
\nChew-Graham, C. A., Rogers, A., & Yassin, N. (2003). \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want it on my CV or their records\u201d: medical students\u2019 experiences of help-seeking for mental health problems. Medical Education, 37(10), 873\u2013880. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1046\/j.1365-2923.2003.01627.x
\nEllis, K. R., Griffith, D. M., Allen, J. O., Thorpe, R. J., & Bruce, M. A. (2015). \u201cIf you do nothing about stress, the next thing you know, you\u2019re shattered\u201d: Perspectives on African American men\u2019s stress, coping and health from African American men and key women in their lives. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 139, 107\u2013114. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.socscimed.2015.06.036
\nEstroff, S. E., Lachicotte, W. S., Illingworth, L. C., & Johnston, A. (1991). Everybody\u2019s Got a Little Mental Illness: Accounts of Illness and Self among People with Severe, Persistent Mental Illnesses. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 5(4), 331\u2013369. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1525\/maq.1991.5.4.02a00030
\nMittal, D., Drummond, K. L., Blevins, D., Curran, G., Corrigan, P., & Sullivan, G. (2013). Stigma Associated With PTSD: Perceptions of Treatment Seeking Combat Veterans. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 36(2), 86\u201392. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/h0094976
\nSedgwick, P. (1972). Mental Illness Is Illness. Salmagundi (Saratoga Springs), 20, 196\u2013224.
\nSmart, L., & Wegner, D. M. (1999). Covering Up What Can\u2019t Be Seen: Concealable Stigma and Mental Control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 474\u2013486. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0022-3514.77.3.474
\nThoits, P. A. (2011). Resisting the Stigma of Mental Illness. Social Psychology Quarterly, 74(1), 6\u201328. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0190272511398019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"