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Question 1

While there is definitely growing awareness and positive shifts in terms of mental health, the reduction of its stigma is still an ongoing process. Some causes of stigma can be attributed to...

Misinformation and inaccurate stereotypes

Media often portray individuals with mental health struggles as linked to socially unacceptable behaviour or violence.

Cultural Beliefs and values

Traditional beliefs, particularly in some cultures, may associate mental illness with moral failings or supernatural causes.

Heavy emphasis on success and productivity

Some cultures (especially Asian) prioritise and place a high value on achievement and productivity. Which leads to the stigmatisation of individuals who struggle with mental health challenges.

Question 2

Some ways to further reduce stigma include...

Fostering empathy and support

Some ways to do so are by sharing personal experiences and struggles to help others feel safe in discussing their experiences without the fear of judgement. Sharing your own experiences with mental health or supporting others who do can help reduce the shame associated with mental illness.

Challenging Stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours

This can be done through the advocacy of policies that ensure equal access to healthcare, employment, and other opportunities for people with mental health conditions.

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Stigma for mental health & illnesses is going down.

General awareness and information is being disseminated to younger audiences, helping reduce negative stigma from forming earlier and brewing

However, an increase in awareness and acceptance could lead to individuals who falsely self diagnosed to gain access to benefits or to fit into social groups (as the "weight" of mental illness is lost on them)

This in turn could perpetual negative stigma as people would end up steering away from people who actually suffer from mental illness by association

Personally, I feel that "metal illness" is too broad of a term

People with schizophrenia, down-syndrome, clinical insanity, depression, insomnia, addiction, autism, ADHD all have varying degrees of ability to function in work and society, and grouping them all into the same category inevitably causes assumptions and stigmas to be applied to them all across the board.

By properly labeling and categorizing people who suffer from mental illness, associations would be less widespread and individual needs and situations may be better understood.

Mental Illness should not be stigmatized nor glorified, but treated as an illness just like the flu or diabetes.

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I) According to results I searched , the stigma surrounding mental illness is not consistently decreasing

II) to reduce stigma , it’s important to educate the public promoting positive portrayals of mental illness in media, and encouraging supportive social interactions.

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We believe stigma for mental health and illnesses is reducing because awareness and knowledge about it is increasing. So it’s not anymore considered a taboo topic. However, acceptance doesn’t mean welcoming. Thus, here’s a recommendation on how we can further reduce stigma.

A requirement to hold at least one session about mental health and illnesses per school year, from primary to secondary level.

This talk is not just for students to listen, but also to learn and apply it in their day to day lives. A journaling activity by the students and advisory teacher’s an idea that came to mind.

How? The advisory teacher will require a small notebook at the start of the school year. Once a week, teacher will give out the notebooks and students will have 30mins to write down an entry. Teacher will collect and will be the only one allowed to read and write down feedback and/or advice.

This activity will help not just the students but also for the teacher to be aware of the students’ thoughts and feelings within their academic life and personal experiences; and how they can be of help.

We propose it to be for primary and secondary students because it is to develop their core understanding of the world and prepare them to face the real challenges of the world moving forward.

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Q1.

I think the stigma around mental health is getting less, because now depression and anxiety are very common in society. With the internet, people can share information so others can understand and accept people with these conditions more. But people with more serious mental illnesses are still discriminated against, so we should focus more on this group and help them improve their mental health. We should not ignore them, or their problems may get worse.

Q2.

We can use the internet to share positive and true information, and not make it exaggerated, so people will not feel scared or have a bad impression.

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stigma cannot be entirely erased but it can be reduced

people tend to immediately associate someone with mental health issues to the most severe end of the spectrum

from a layman's pov, if they were given the option to work with someone mentally healthy or someone mentall unwell they would naturally pick the person who is well

educating on misconceptions and issues is easier said than done, although it does help a bit

people hold stigmas on people because they think they have to walk on eggshells around to people with mental health issues

ways to reduce stigma:

being very open about mental health (issues, topics +) and making it a more casual topic so people will be more comfortable touching on it

have talks about mental health but make it more light hearted and easy to digest (making it serious will cause people to be bored and think the issue is more severe thus leading to more stigma)

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Stigma around mental illness will probably never go away however can be reduced. Through educating the public especially parents and schools. Just like how stigma still exists for many physical illnesses, it is improved through support groups and communities, the same should be done for mental illnesses.

Make it more accessible for people to see psychologists / psychiatrists/ counselors, and increase the amount of them in poly clinics/ hospitals / private clinics to show that it is a normal thing to care for mental health. The lack of mental health clinics show that it is rare and people will stigmatize it

Teach / talk abt it in schools and workplaces.

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Personally, I think stigma for mental health is reducing not because of society giving importance to mental health (which is also important) but more so because the adolescents are exposed to mental health literature more compared to earlier generations when mental health was barely discussed or acknowledged. As the population progresses further and young people enter the work force, conversations about mental health being an everyday conversation might not be so far fetched anymore. As river cut through rock not by power but persistence, I believe that with time, it's inevitable that the stigma will decrease.

With this narration, I propose spreading mental health literature with comparison or debunking stigma beliefs in the form of television programmes/entertainment suited for all ages. In contemporary society, most people, specially the adolescents, spend most of their day looking at screens, if we can somehow capture that consistent focus, it is possible to convey mental health literature and reduce stigma.