Downloadable materials
available | Brief
description |
| Every Family in the Land | E-book for healthcare professionals, service users and providers
and the general public |
|
| Leaflet for
doctors
“Does it mater if
doctors discriminate” | DO WE STIGMATISE OUR PATIENTS?
• Surveys show stigmatisation of people with mental illness is
widespread
• People believe they are dangerous, difficult to talk with,
unpredictable and partly responsible for their illness
• People who are doctors can hold stigmatising attitudes too DOES IT MATTER?
YES
To our patients, who fear our stigmatisation and are reluctant to
seek help – particularly early on, when treatment can be most
effective
YES
To us as doctors, who fear stigma when we have psychological
problems ourselves:
- doctors with untreated psychiatric illness who continue to
practise may put patients at risk - reluctance among doctors to
seek treatment may account for the high suicide rate in the
profession FACING THE FACT OF STIGMA
• Training in psychiatry and successful treatment of patients help
reduce stigmatising attitudes, but:
- patients with psychiatric problems often need more time than
other patients
- meeting their needs in a busy general or
specialist practice can be frustrating, leading to negative
attitudes
- it’s all too easy to be pessimistic and
underrate the patient’s capacity to respond
to treatment
- patients who fear stigmatisation are highly
sensitive to even small indications of
stigmatising attitudes in us HOW CAN STIGMA BE REDUCED?
• We doctors need to admit to any stigmatising attitudes, and to
check our thoughts and behaviour repeatedly – just as we do with
other areas of discrimination
• All doctors should possess the understanding and skills to help
patients with psychiatric illness.
Greater skills and experience will:
- make our work more effective, less time-consuming, more rewarding
for us and more
helpful to our patients
- enable us to give more help and support to colleagues with
psychological problems WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?
• Read Mental illness: stigmatisation
and
discrimination within the medical profession
(CR91). This is a joint report from the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians of London and the
British Medical Association. It was written with the involvement of
patients, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal
College of Nursing and the Department of Health.
• Look at www.changingminds.co.uk and
www.stigma.org/everyfamily
CR91 was published as part of the Changing Minds
– Every Family in the Land anti-stigma campaign, organised by the
Royal College of Psychiatrists To obtain a copy please send an A5 stamped addressed envelope
to:
Changing Minds Campaign Office,
Royal College of Psychiatrists,
17 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PG,
Tel: 020 7235 2351
For further information about the Campaign,
please e-mail: stigma@rcpsych.ac.uk |
|
| Leaflet for
doctors
“Time-wasters…
does it ring a bell?” | This is a short punchy full-colour leaflet for General
Practitioners. It addresses the problem of the patient who consults
again and again but makes no progress. An illustrative case history
of 'Jim' shows how difficult it is for some patients to be aware
of, or disclose, mental health problems.
Jim's reluctance to acknowledge his depression and anxiety is a
side-effect of the stigma attached to mental illnesses,
particularly among young men. This leaflet encourages GPs to be
alert to mental health problems when they encounter 'heart sink'
patients like Jim. 'Time-wasters...' was published in conjunction with the
Changing Minds Campaign Roadshows for Primary Health Care
Workers. To obtain a copy please send an A5 stamped addressed envelope
to:
Changing Minds Campaign Office,
Royal College of Psychiatrists,
17 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PG,
Tel: 020 7235 2351
For further information about the Campaign,
please e-mail: stigma@rcpsych.ac.uk |
|
| Opinion surveys | A randomised sample of 1700 people was
interviewed in July 1998 - before the start of the campaign - by
the Office of National Statistics. They were asked a series of
eight questions about the six disorders which the campaign is
tackling: depression, anxiety disorders, Alzheimer's disease and
dementia, eating disorders, schizophrenia and alcohol and drug
misuse. |
|
| References | References to
over 100 articles published in the medical press, for research and
information |
|
| Every Family in the Land | E-book for
healthcare professionals, service users and providers and the
general public |
|
Information leaflets: | |
| Mental disorders:
Challenging prejudice
| This
introductory leaflet answers questions such as what mental
disorders are, what causes them, whether they can be treated and
how psychiatry can help. It also looks at what stigma is and the
harm it does, and challenges some common myths about mental
disorders. |
|
| Alcohol and other drug misuse
| Alcohol and
other drug misuse looks at the difference between psychological and
physical dependence, who misuses substances and what causes them to
do so. It reviews current treatments and reminds us of the problems
which alcohol and drug addicts create for their own children. |
|
| Anxiety
| Anxiety
disorders cause people a number of different physical and
psychological problems and affect women more than men. The cause is
not always clear and genetic factors may be important. A range of
effective treatment is available if the sufferer seeks help, and we
as individuals can be supportive rather than critical - the stigma
associated with severe anxiety can be challenged. |
|
| Anorexia and Bulimia
| Anorexia and
bulimia explains how these eating disorders can develop in
childhood and adolescence, usually in girls. Mental health
professionals need a variety of skills to treat people with eating
disorders; anorexics in particular can be quite resistant to
change, and work with the family may also be necessary. |
|
| Depression
| Depression
describes an illness 'when the sadness has gone too far'. People
who are depressed can not 'pull themselves together' but need
treatment, perhaps with drugs, perhaps with counselling or therapy.
This leaflet reminds us that at least one in five of us will become
depressed at some time in our lives and looks at the causes and
treatments and at what society can do to help. |
|
| Alzheimer’s disease & dementia
| Alzheimer's
disease and dementia is designed to make people think twice about
how they view sufferers of the most devastating mental diseases of
old age. It provides facts about what dementia and Alzheimer's
disease are, who gets them, what causes them and what treatments
are available. The leaflet also suggests what society can do to
improve things for sufferers. |
|
| Schizophrenia
| Schizophrenia is
not a 'split personality', as is often thought, but a disturbance
of thought, feeling and behaviour. This leaflet outlines facts
which are known about the disease, which affects about one in a
hundred people, and explains what we understand about the causes.
Effective treatment involves a number of different approaches and
there are a number of things society can do to help improve the
lives of people with schizophrenia. |
|
| Creativity and mental disorder
| Psychiatrist Dr
John Morgan considers the link between creativity and mental
illness in this 37-page article written for the Campaign website.
Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery form the basis for
discussion about the work of individuals and the link between their
creativity and their mental health. |
|
| Personality disorder
| Written for the
Changing Minds Campaign by psychiatrist Dr Oscar Hill, this article
examines the complex issue of personality disorder: what it is, how
far people with personality disorder should be be blamed for their
behaviour, whether they should be treated compulsorily, and whether
there is any way of changing them. |
|
| Stigmatising suicide
| The article
answers questions such as ‘Are suicidal people mentally
ill?’ and explores the suicidal state of mind. In particular,
it examines our attitudes towards people who are suicidal, and
challenges a number of negative thoughts about suicide and its
prevention. |
|
Article | How much is violence associated with mental
illness? | This article,
written for the Changing Minds Campaign by psychiatrist Dr Oscar
Hill, examines the statistics and other factors relating to
violence and homicide. It discusses why the government and the
media tend to stress the danger of violence from people who have a
mental illness, and what can be done to reduce stigma and
fear. |
|
| | This is the second edition of this popular publication which
now includes 36 factsheets covering an even wider range of mental
health issues. The aim is to provide practical and up-to-date
information about the emotional and psychiatric disorder which can
affect children and young people. Price: £10.00
ISBN:1-901-24243-9
October 1999 |
|
| “Mental illness: Stigmatisation and discrimination
within the medical profession | This report, produced for the Changing Minds campaign,
addresses the issue of stigmatisation of people with mental
illnesses by doctors |
|
Book: | | |
| | Edited by Rosalind Ramsay, Anne Page, Tricia Goodman and
Deborah Hart
Price: £10.00
Format: paperback
160pp
Dec 2002
ISBN 1 901242 88 9 Order form |
|
| Primhe Resource
Pack | Resource pack,
produced by Primhe (Primary Care Mental Health and Education) for
promoting mental health, cultivating social inclusion, and managing
mental health problems in Primary Care. It provides a guide to
developing integrated services in line with the National Service
Framework for Mental Health. |
|
Links to other websites | |
| Reviews of recommended websites | Reviews of
recommended websites |
| Mental health websites | Mental health
websites |
| Disorder related websites | Disorder
related websites |
| Websites for young people, parents and
teachers | Websites
relating to young people and mental health |