Personer med psykisk ohälsas upplevelser av stigmatisering

Sammanfattning: Background: Research shows that stigmatizing attitudes towards persons with mental illness are sometimes harbored by the public and by health care personnel, and that this can sometimes lead to persons with mental illness being treated by others in stigmatizing ways. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of persons with mental illness of stigmatization. Method: A literature review of descriptive design. The result is based on 12 scientific articles with qualitative approaches. Main Result: Persons with mental illness often experience stigmatizing attitudes in relation to health care personnel. Persons with mental illnesses often experience that mental illnesses are not considered to be as serious as somatic illnesses. Persons with mental illness make use of various strategies in order to handle stigmatization. Conclusion: Because of the stigmatization they experience and the strategies they employ to handle stigmatization, persons with mental illness risk being alienated from society. The relations between persons’ with mental illness and health care organizations risk being damaged through the stigmatizing attitudes they experience in relations with health care organizations. The experiences of persons with mental illnesses of health care personnels’ attitudes towards them could be improved by nurses treating them in a professional and emphatic manner.