Who is contributing?

Abstract

In this chapter, we will address the question of who might potentially hold stigmatizing beliefs toward persons with mental illness. While examining these potential contributors, we want to show that, by harboring such beliefs, these groups and individuals perpetuate the stigmatization process now present in popular culture. This process, as we shall see, is inherent to every society and is generalized rather than focused. Therefore, anyone can, hypothetically, add to the stigma of mental illness, including even some healthcare and mental health professionals who might maintain such prejudices. As such, we start with a short introduction that shows how stigmatization does not apply exclusively to mental disorders but, rather, is a natural activity within every society. We then course through the stigmatization process, beginning at the macrolevel, which comprises society as a whole as well as the mass media. We then continue to the intermediate level, comprising healthcare professionals, and finally to the microlevel, which includes the individual with mental illness himself, who also contributes to this process via self-stigmatization.