ผู้วิจัย/Authors: Parameshvara Deva

ชื่อเรื่อง/Title: Asian Perspective on Stigma and Mental Health Illness.

แหล่งที่มา/Source: ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry. Vol. 9, Supplement 1, 26-29 August 2008, page 33-34.

รายละเอียด / Details:

Stigma once dogged many illnesses, and not merely mental illnesses. Leprosy and Tuberculosis are two examples of stigmatized by poor treatment, understanding and rejection. Yet today these diseases are treated in community care clinics with almost no stigma. The psychiatric community clearly abhors the stigma that accompanies their patients and work, and indeed their own professions. A great deal of prejudice accompanies everything mental in the minds of not only the public, and laypersons but also the medical and health care professions. From ministers of health, medical administrators and purse string holders to nurses, attendants or ambulance drivers the gross ignorance of mental health component in the definition of health define by the WHO (1946), is a reality in 2008. There are many reasons for this gap in the understanding of mental illnesses that go beyond ignorance that is obvious. Training in health care professions is a key to the quality of care of the ill that they will carry out. While most curricula are being revised that of psychiatry for health care, professions is almost an afterthought when it is included in the training program. In vast tracts of Asia there is only token training in psychiatry. There are no credible examinations and sometimes no patient based training. The result of these often leads to a low quality of care and mismanagement of mental illnesses. Quality training of psychiatrists for the health care services is again not given priority by decision makers. The use of archaic long stay and unsuitable institutions in psychiatry instead of short stay acute wards in general hospitals add to the wrong concepts about mental illness and perpetuate the ignorance, prejudice and stigma. It is laudable to point a finger at stigma and campaign for destigmatization of mental illnesses. But mere words and campaigns have to contend with the reality of stigma in forbidding mental institutions with locked cells, and police stations as a fact of life. To reduce stigma Asian countries need to change training, and invest in decent mental health care services. Calls for combating stigma, while doing nothing to change the sad state mental health care in many mental health centers in Asia.

Keywords: stigma, mental health illness

ปีที่เผยแพร่/Year: 2008

Address: Department of Psychiatry, Suri Seri Begawan Hospital, Brunei

Code: 201000013

ISSN/ISBN: 0218-3420

Country of publication: Thailand

Language: English

Category: Abstract

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