Last year, research from Harvard showed the huge number of perfectly capable people that are often frozen out of the labor market because of the various stigma associated with them.  The group included military veterans, the disabled, and those with a criminal record.  Perhaps one of the more predictable entries on the list was people with either current or previous mental health issues.

While such stigma still exists, research from Indiana University suggests that it is at least falling for the first time since data has been collected on the matter.  I should say, however, that this boost has only emerged in terms of depression, as stigma around other mental illnesses has remained largely stagnant.

“Stigma is broad and pervasive and, up till now, has been notoriously stubborn to change efforts,” the researchers say.  “Stigma translates into so many issues, including people’s reluctance to seek care, our shortage of mental health professionals, and the US’ unwillingness to invest resources into the mental health sector. The good news from this study is stigma can change, and the change we document crosses all sectors of society and individuals.”

Changing attitudes

The researchers explored how attitudes towards mental health problems, including depression, alcoholism, and schizophrenia, have changed in the past twenty years.  They utilized data from the US National Stigma Studies, which forms part of the General Social Survey.  The survey collected data at three points during a 22-year period.

The analysis was especially interested in understanding what people know about the underlying causes of such problems, how people tend to behave when they have them, and whether they’d be willing to interact with people with mental illnesses in a range of contexts.

The results show that there was a growing perception that mental health illnesses were not caused by any moral failings, but that this didn’t always translate into a fall in the public ostracism of those with mental illness.  There were signs that from 2006 to 2018 this began to shift, however, especially for depression.

“It is encouraging to find more progressive attitudes toward mental illness among millennials and to see public stigma around depression significantly decreasing, especially as rates of depression continue to rise in the US among young people,” the researchers say.

“However, the increasing stigmatization of schizophrenia and alcohol dependency is concerning. Taken as a whole, our findings support rethinking stigma and retooling stigma reduction strategies to improve public attitudes surrounding mental illness. There is a lot of work left to be done.”

There were clear differences in stigma across various subgroups.  For instance, people were more likely to display stigma as they grew older.  The change in attitudes in recent years is largely due to the greater awareness people have of mental health issues, and the researchers hope that the education system will continue to be leveraged to help provide people with the right information on the issue.