Mental Disorders are often misunderstood

While all people with mental disorders suffer discrimination, children and adolescentsare the least capable of advocating for themselves. Also, developmentally, childrenthink more dichotomously than adults about categories such as “good” and “bad,” or“healthy” and “sick”. They are thus less likely to temper a negative remark with othermore positive feedback, and may therefore more easily accept negative, misappliedlabels. Stigma and discrimination include: bias, stereotyping, fear, embarrassment,anger and rejection or avoidance; violations of basic human rights and freedoms; denialof opportunities for education and training; and denial of civil, political, economic, socialand cultural rights. Additionally, in contrast to physical illnesses where parents mayreceive community support, stigma often results in parents being blamed for the mentalhealth problems of their

Your Ad Here

children.Behaviours associated with mental disorders are often misunderstood, or areconsidered to be intentional or deliberately wilful. For example, a depressed child whois acting badly may be punished for being naughty or may be told to “snap out of it.”An anxious adolescent may consume increasing amounts of alcohol in order to cope,but is told to “just say no!”. When a problem is misunderstood by others, it is morelikely that the solutions applied will be inappropriate and ineffective, or possibly harmfulto the health of the individual who is suffering. Social exclusion, punitive action andcriticism leading to lowered self-esteem may result. A mistaken and inappropriateunderstanding of mental disorders can result in children and adolescents beingdeprived of the assistance they need. Stigmatization may result, with a range ofnegative impacts, including a reduction in the resources needed for treatment. In certain countries, mental disorders may be attributed to spiritual causes, or topossession by the devil due to alleged evil acts or the neglect of spiritual duties.Epilepsy, for example, has a wide range of such putative causes worldwide, and issometimes even considered contagious. Children or adolescents with epilepsy may beexcluded from school for fear that others will contract their illness. Families may beashamed of their children who suffer from a mental disorder or fearful that they may bephysically abused. They may keep them locked up or isolated from the community.Such severe measures can have devastating effects on the physical and emotionaldevelopment of these children and adolescents. Unless children and adolescents with mental disorders receive appropriate treatment,their difficulties are likely to persist, and their social, educational and vocationalprospects diminished. This results in direct costs to the family and lost productivity forsociety. It is also now known that individuals with untreated mental disorders representa disproportionately large segment of the populations in the juvenile justice and adultcriminal justice systems. For example, a study among youth in detention centres inMassachusetts, United States of America (USA), found that

Your Ad Here

approximately 70% of themales and 81% of the females scored above the clinical cut-off on at least one of thescales of a screening instrument: alcohol/drug use, angry-irritable, depressed-anxious,somatic complaints and suicide ideation (Cauffman, 2004). These sequelae areparticularly tragic because some mental illnesses are preventable, many are treatable,and children with psychiatric disorders could be living normal or near-normal lives ifgiven appropriate treatment

Your Ad Here