“It pulls you down, but you need it to access the benefits”: the double-edged sword of mental illness diagnosis
Mental ill-health is rife in all corners of the world. Mental illness diagnosis simultaneously names the problem and labels a person. Taking a social representations perspective, this phenomenological study explores how 12 people living with a mental disorder in Barcelona, Spain, experienced their d...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | Uruguay |
| Institución: | Universidad Católica del Uruguay |
| Repositorio: | LIBERI |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:liberi.ucu.edu.uy:10895/5496 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://revistas.ucu.edu.uy/index.php/cienciaspsicologicas/article/view/2220 https://hdl.handle.net/10895/5496 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | mental health Spain mental diseases psychological diagnosis psychiatric diagnosis social representation stigmatization salud mental enfermedades mentales diagnóstico psicológico diagnóstico psiquiátrico representación social estigmatización España saúde mental Espanha doenças mentais representação social estigmatização |
| Sumario: | Mental ill-health is rife in all corners of the world. Mental illness diagnosis simultaneously names the problem and labels a person. Taking a social representations perspective, this phenomenological study explores how 12 people living with a mental disorder in Barcelona, Spain, experienced their diagnosis. They experienced having to process what this “diagnosis for life” meant for their sense of self. Immediate encounters of stereotyping and changes in their social relations, reinforced their experience of being “stigmatized for life” and seen as “mentally ill all the time”. Participants did however also note that the diagnosis helped them make sense of the past and the future, including enabling access to specific benefits, which supported their recovery and helped them make ends meet – highlighting the ambivalence of mental illness diagnosis. This study highlights the need to consider the social context and patients’ narrated experiences of diagnosis centre stage. |
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