According to Current Psychology, 47.4% of all individuals in the United States alone will meet the criteria for a mental health disorder in their lifetime. Moreover, approximately 20.6% (around 51.5 million) of adults in the U.S. will meet the criteria for a mental health disorder in a given year. Yet, only 43.3% of adults receive treatment for mental health disorders, which leaves nearly 60% of individuals living without support. The prevalence of poor help-seeking behaviors is rooted in mental health stigma and individual attitudes toward help-seeking. Thus, the number of people living unsupported highlights the impact of perception and the importance of dismantling self-stigma.
At Rancho Recovery, we are committed to using holistic, tailored treatment strategies to find the unique key that unlocks the right healing path for you. Through our luxury rehab, you can find personalized care and evidence-based treatments to address your specific needs. We are with you on every step of your journey to thrive in every part of your life. With our Christian-based recovery programs, you can find the compassion and guidance you need to support dismantling self-stigma.
Although stigma may try to convince you that you are morally corrupt, you are not less than. You are not less deserving of support and healing than anyone else. Thus, with a deeper understanding of stigma, you can gain tools to support dismantling self-stigma. Yet, you may question what self-stigma is. Are self-stigma and stigma the same?
Although stigma can encompass self-stigma, there are different types of stigma. Understanding the different types of stigma, particularly self-stigma, can increase insight into how self-stigma impedes mental health. With more insight into stigma, you can learn how dismantling self-stigma can support recovery from unaddressed challenges with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What Is Mental Health Stigma?
Stigma in and of itself has been a major barrier to treatment and recovery in a variety of fields. As noted in JAMA Network Open, in mental health, stigma is a set of prejudiced beliefs and discriminatory behaviors attached to devalued conditions. The devaluing of mental health disorders and the individuals with those disorders contribute to worsening health outcomes, poor recovery, and low quality of life. Some of the common beliefs that come out of mental health stigma include:
- Perceiving people with mental health disorders as dangerous and or incompetent
- Believing people are more likely to be violent and commit violent crimes
- Assumptions that people have mental health disorders because they did something wrong
- The belief that people with mental health disorders should be kept separate from the result of the population
- Forced institutionalization
- Assumptions that people with mental health disorders have weak characters
Further, many of the obstacles that are born from mental health disorder stigma can be seen in the actions of those with stigmatizing views. Thus, as Current Psychology also states, stigma can lead to discriminatory actions like:
- 49% of adults in the U.S. said they would not date someone with a mental health disorder
- 33% of adults in the U.S. said individuals with mental health disorders scare them
- 39% of adults in the U.S. said they would view someone differently if they found out they had a mental health disorder
Therefore, the beliefs and actions of stigma can be detrimental to every area of life and well-being. At Rancho Recovery, we know you did not consciously choose to have an addiction and or a mental health disorder. Active addiction is a product of unaddressed trauma or stress in which substances prey on your vulnerability. Moreover, mental health challenges like PTSD can be rooted in trauma.
What Is Self-Stigma?
Stigma can be categorized in a few different ways, such as public and private stigma. However, more often, stigma is broken into three categories of stigma: public stigma, self-stigma, and structural stigma. As noted in “Stigma, Prejudice, and Discrimination Against People with Mental Illness” by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), stigma often stems from a place of fear and or a lack of understanding. Each of the three different types of stigma shares the same fear and poor mental health literacy (MHL) at its core. The main difference between the types of stigma is their level of impact. Listed below are the three types of stigma and how they function:
- Public stigma: Negative beliefs about mental health disorders at the societal and or community level
- This encompasses the negative and or discriminatory attitudes people in the general public have about mental health disorders and individuals living with mental health disorders
- Forms of discrimination: Employers may not hire you or select you for promotion, landlords may not rent to you, and people avoid interacting with you
- Self-stigma: Negative beliefs and internalized negative stereotypes and feelings like shame that you have about mental health disorders related to the self
- This encompasses negative attitudes you have about yourself and your mental health disorder that stem from societal stigmatization
- Forms of discrimination: Low self-esteem, self-worth, and self-efficacy
- Structural stigma: The systemic existence of government and private organization policies that unintentionally or intentionally limit the opportunities of individuals with mental health disorders
- Forms of discrimination: Less research that addressed the needs of individuals with mental health disorders, lower funding for mental health research, and fewer services designed to support individuals with mental health disorders
Looking at the three types of stigma showcase how stigma can impede well-being. Further, self-stigma, in particular, highlights the extent to which stigma can harm your self-concept. Thus, increasing your understanding of self-stigma can address how it impairs how you see yourself and engage with the world. Now, you can look more closely at the inner workings of the self in terms of stigma to support dismantling self-stigma.
As stated in “The Many Impacts of Self-Stigma” by Katherine Ponte, self-stigma can have a profound impact on your emotional wellness. The impact self-stigma has on your emotional wellness can be more devastating when coupled with mental health symptoms. Moreover, dismantling self-stigma becomes more apparent when you recognize the consequences it has on well-being. Self-stigma can erode your resilience to stress and amplify negative feelings and poor components of your self-concept like:
- Feeling embarrassed and ashamed
- Low self-esteem and self-efficacy
- Poor outlook on life
Furthermore, self-stigma can be expressed in a few different ways that impair your ability to deepen self-awareness and understanding. Listed before are the four categories in which you may experience self-stigma:
- Alienation: Negative thoughts and feelings about yourself as a result of your mental health disorder
- Feeling embarrassed and ashamed
- You are convinced that your mental illness is your fault and you are inferior to others
- Feeling disappointed in yourself for having a mental health disorder
- You feel like your life is over, and people cannot understand you or what you are going through
- Stereotype endorsement: You believe in and apply harmful stereotypes about mental health disorders to yourself
- You are convinced that you cannot live a happy and fulfilling life
- Believing you are dangerous to yourself and others
- You believe your mental illness will diminish your life
- Unable to maintain a job, attend school, have romantic relationships, become a parent, or contribute to society
- Believing that you are not capable of independence to make decisions for yourself
- Discrimination experience: Perceived and experienced feelings of discrimination based on your mental health status
- You feel like others patronize, ignore, or do not take your thoughts and feelings seriously
- Feeling discriminated against
- You are convinced that others do not want to be around you to form relationships with you
- Feeling less than in your ability to do or accomplish anything
- Social withdrawal: Negative thoughts and feelings coupled with discriminatory experiences convince you that you are alone
- You avoid getting close to people
- Avoid reaching out to loved ones because you are concerned that you are an embarrassment to them
- You avoid socializing and talking about yourself because you think you are a burden, inadequate, or do not belong
Looking at the different ways self-stigma can manifest showcases the importance of dismantling self-stigma for long-term wellness. Although concerns about stigma are common for mental health disorders in general, some conditions may have additional risk factors. Challenges with the symptoms of PTSD share a correlation with self-stigma. Thus, addressing and dismantling self-stigma in PTSD can be vital to treatment and recovery.
Prevalence of Self-Stigma in PTSD
According to the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, many self-stigma studies have focused on the prevalence of self-stigma among specific disorders. Much research has been put into the impact and the importance of dismantling self-stigma for individuals with mental health disorders such as:
- Schizophrenia spectrum disorders: 20% to 50% of individuals experience self-stigma
- Mood disorders: Approximately 22% of individuals experience self-stigma
- Personality disorders
- Substance use disorder (SUD)
However, self-stigma in PTSD is often overlooked as an important factor as a barrier to recovery from PTSD. As the European Journal of Psychotraumatology also notes, 41.2% of individuals with PTSD experience self-stigma. Moreover, within the specific subcategories of self-stigma, individuals with PTSD experience:
- Alienation: experienced by 68.6% of individuals with PTSD
- Stereotype: experienced by 12.4% of individuals with PTSD
- Discrimination experience: experienced by 53.6% of individuals with PTSD
- Social withdrawal: experienced by 60.3% of individuals with PTSD
- Stigma resistance: experienced by 28.9% of individuals with PTSD
Thus, the need for dismantling self-stigma in PTSD becomes more apparent. Now, you can look at the way self-stigma and PTSD function independently to understand their connection. With more understanding of self-stigma and PTSD symptoms, you can build tools to support dismantling self-stigma in PTSD.
The Importance of Dismantling Self-Stigma in PTSD
Understanding how self-stigma arises can provide insight into how it prevents or impedes healing in PTSD. Self-stigma is born from three associated processes: stereotype agreement, self-concurrence, and self-esteem decrement:
- Stereotype agreement: The endorsement of perceived stereotyped views
- Self-concurrence: Believing stereotypes apply to you personally
- Self-esteem decrement: The internalization of stigma decreases your self-esteem and diminishes your self-efficacy
Within the processes of self-stigma, you experience an identity transformation. In your identity transformation, you lose your previously held positive self-beliefs. The loss of positive self-beliefs correlates to the symptoms of PTSD and the need for dismantling self-stigma. According to “Self-Stigma and PTSD” by Natasha Benfer et al., self-stigma and PTSD share core aspects in cognitive, affective, and behavioral experiences and symptoms. Listed below are the core aspects self-stigma and PTSD share:
- A negative appraisal of your diagnosis and ability to function
- Negative beliefs about yourself
- Overaccommodated or assimilated negative beliefs about yourself
- Feelings of shame and worthlessness
- Avoidance of social contact and interactions
The shared aspects of self-stigma and PTSD highlight the importance of dismantling self-stigma as the core aspects impede each other. Some of the long-term consequences of unaddressed PTSD and self-stigma include:
- Increased risk for other co-occurring physical and mental health disorders
- SUD
- Sleep issues and disorders
- Suicidal ideation
- Depression
- Anxiety disorders
- Chronic pain and other chronic health conditions
- Poor cardiovascular health
- Impairment in developing and maintaining relationships
- Social withdrawal and isolation
- More pronounced psychological distress
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Decreased quality of life
- Less likely to engage in help-seeking behaviors
The long-term physical and psychological consequences of PTSD and self-stigma showcase the need for dismantling self-stigma. However, several barriers interrelated to self-stigma in PTSD can impede the dismantling of self-stigma for PTSD recovery. Knowing the barriers of self-stigma can help you understand the best way to engage in dismantling self-stigma.
Barriers to Dismantling Self-Stigma for PTSD
Stigma in and of itself can act as a barrier to treatment and recovery. However, self-stigma offers another level of care barrier that undermines empowerment. Through the development of negative self-concept and beliefs about yourself, self-stigma and PTSD impair healthy thinking patterns. The presence of negative thinking patterns increases mental and emotional distress.
When you are overwhelmed by the rumination of negative thoughts and feelings, your ability to engage in adaptive coping is disrupted. You may find it difficult to imagine that you can recover or if you are even worthy of healing. Such pronounced negative beliefs about yourself encourage unhealthy thinking and behaviors like self-sabotage. For example, self-sabotage from self-stigma and PTSD can lead to treatment avoidance, higher dropout rates, and the loss of supportive relationships. Thus, dismantling self-stigma for PTSD can have a significant impact on your physical and psychological well-being.
Yet, you may question how you can overcome stigma barriers and work toward dismantling self-stigma to heal. There is a wide range of therapeutic tools that can be used to support you in dismantling self-stigma. Some essential tools for dismantling self-stigma include trauma-informed care, language, and education:
- Trauma-informed care: Recognize the widespread and multi-generational impact of trauma to support lasting recovery
- Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, their loved ones, and treatment staff
- Work to integrate the knowledge of trauma policies, procedures, and practices for better health outcomes
- Actively avoid re-traumatization
- Language: Recognizes that certain words have an impact on how you view yourself or others
- Utilized person-first language in which the person is put before the diagnosis
- Focuses on describing what you have rather than what you are by avoiding labels or adjectives that define you as your condition
- A person with PTSD
- Person with SUD
- Education: Through enhanced MHL, a culture of awareness and feedback can be fostered
- Supports the recognition, management, and prevention of stigma through knowledge and modifying belief systems
Looking at self-stigma barriers to care can be overwhelming. However, engagement in education can be an invaluable tool for dismantling self-stigma in PTSD.
Dismantling Self-Stigma With Education at Rancho Recovery
At Rancho Recovery, we know fostering long-term recovery from PTSD and self-stigma starts with individualized care. With individualized care, you can find the support you need to address your specific experiences and needs at a mental institution. Through a supportive treatment program, you have access to support people, tools, and resources to effect positive change in the way you see yourself and the world. We offer comprehensive and evidence-based practices that can be tailored to give you the support you need to thrive.
Our commitment to holistic, whole-person healing means we are here for you on every step of your journey during and beyond treatment. Thus, you are reminded through our luxury rehab and community-driven care that you are not alone in your experiences. With holistic support, we can help you navigate self-stigma barriers to find or rediscover your belief in your self-worth and ability to recover. No matter where you are on your journey toward healing and self-love, we are here to help you rebuild your life and thrive on a foundation of honesty, acceptance, courage, and faith.
Negative beliefs about yourself stem from PTSD symptoms and contribute to self-stigma. Through self-stigma, you internalize negative stereotypes and feelings about yourself and your mental health disorder. Together, PTSD and self-stigma can disrupt your sense of self and belonging, like low self-esteem and self-efficacy. Moreover, self-stigma in PTSD can contribute to barriers to care, like social withdrawal, co-occurring SUD and other mental or physical health conditions, and poor help-seeking behaviors. However, dismantling self-stigma for PTSD is possible with holistic support. With holistic care, you have access to trauma-informed and education-driven support. Therefore, at Rancho Recovery, we are committed to providing individualized care to offer support and guidance as you rediscover your self-worth. Call us at (877) 484-1447 today.