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Research indicates that one of the greatest barriers to recovery from mental illness is stigma, which is commonly divided into two dimensions: internal stigma and external stigma.
Internal stigma refers to private feelings of shame, worthlessness and inferiority held by stigmatized individuals, often leading to social withdrawal and low self-esteem. External stigma refers to negative attitudes, inaccurate beliefs and erroneous stereotypes held by the public at large, often leading to prejudice and discrimination.
Stigma and Mental Illness
A recent review paper indicates that external stigma remains high across the Western world. Indeed, a large corpus of research indicates that public attitudes toward people with mental illness are mostly inaccurate and largely negative.
For example, one study found that a majority of respondents would not visit a family doctor (61 percent) or hire a lawyer (58 percent) who had a mental illness. Surveys indicate that such stigmatizing attitudes are held across society and even among some employers, health care providers, and educators.
Anti-Stigma Programs
There have been numerous efforts to reduce external stigma. Growing evidence suggests that the best way to reduce external stigma is through contact-based educational sessions. In these sessions, people with mental illness organize and deliver informative presentations to target audiences, weaving together personal stories of recovery with mental health facts and figures.
Presentation content addresses gaps in mental health knowledge, while the personal stories disconfirm stereotypes that people with mental illness are lazy, violent, or incompetent. All this can increase audience empathy and mental health literacy.
Using Videos to Enhance Contact-Based Education
Now more than ever, we live in a visual age. As such, I and my colleagues are currently completing a destigmatization project that utilizes an innovative method known as Participatory Video.
In this project, we assembled together groups of people with severe mental illness, who were trained in scripting, filming and editing. The groups then created numerous self-produced educational videos chronicling various aspects of life with mental illness, including recovery, resilience and stigma.
The workgroup had complete editorial control over content and conducted all the scripting, filming and editing themselves. This allowed them to present their stories and issues unfiltered, providing a strong counter-narrative to mainstream media portrayals of mental illness that tend to disproportionately focus on crime, violence and other nefarious stereotypes.
All the completed videos can be seen at the project website, and one of them, a powerful exploration of stigma and social exclusion, can be seen below.
Public Outreach
An integral part of the Participatory Video process involves organizing screenings (with an introduction and panel discussion) to educate viewers and catalyze attitudinal change. During these screenings, people with mental illness act as empowered community educators, disabusing audiences of stigmatizing and inaccurate notions about mental illness.
Numerous other groups have used Participatory Video to effect positive change in their communities, including teenagers, formerly homeless people and immigrants.
Fortunately, there are numerous helpful resources available to anyone wishing to start a Participatory Video project. Our project website contains much more information on the process. Similarly, pioneering British non-profit InsightShare’ has numerous free toolkits and handbooks on Participatory Video.
In the fight against mental illness stigma, Participatory Video may be a powerful tool for advocacy and education. It empowers people with mental illness to tell their stories about their issues on their terms. These poignant and insightful videos can counter mainstream narratives that rely on stereotypes and prejudice.
As the old adage goes, seeing is believing. Don’t take my word for it: Watch and see for yourself.
