The two main sections of the book comprise chapters on 10 specific illnesses and conditions and chapters relating to broader issues (stigma and family, overcoming stigma, stigma across cultures and future directions). The book concludes with observations on what has not worked in overcoming stigma as well as possible future directions. (Psychology)

Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

Stigma leads to poorer health. In The Oxford Handbook of Stigma, Discrimination, and Health, leading scholars identify stigma mechanisms that operate at multiple levels to erode the health of stigmatized individuals and, collectively, produce health disparities. This book provides unique insights concerning the link between stigma and health across various types of stigma and groups.

People with disabilities are people first. However, because they represent a large and diverse group, understanding how they navigate their social worlds and construe their situations is essential for rehabilitation therapists, educators, policy makers, clinicians, students, and laypeople. This will be the first edited collection to cover classic, current, and nascent topics in the social psychology of disability in many years. The authors represent both established and new voices examining social psychological factors tied to the experience of disability. Researchers, clinicians, and educators can use or adapt chapter concepts for their respective professional venues.

Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore consider the interface between the social institutions of gender and Western medicine in this brief, lively textbook. They offer a distinct feminist viewpoint to analyze issues of power and politics concerning physical illness. For a creative, feminist-oriented alternative to traditional texts on medical sociology, medical anthropology, and the history of medicine, this is an ideal choice.

Despite efforts to redress the prejudice and discrimination faced by people with mental illness, a pervasive stigma remains. Many well-meant programs have attempted to counter stigma with affirming attitudes of recovery and self-determination. Yet the results of these efforts have been mixed. In The Stigma Effect, psychologist Patrick W. Corrigan examines the unintended consequences of mental health campaigns and proposes new policies in their place. Corrigan analyzes the agendas of government agencies, mental health care providers, and social service agencies that work with people with mental illness, dissecting how their best intentions can misfire. For example, a campaign to change the language around mental illness by replacing supposedly stigmatizing words with empowering ones has made little difference in how people with mental health conditions are viewed. Educational programs that frame mental illness as a brain disorder have made the general public less likely to blame people for their illnesses, but also skeptical that such conditions can be cured. Ultimately, Corrigan argues that effective strategies require leadership by those with lived experience, as their recovery stories replace ideas of incompetence and dangerousness with ones of hope and empowerment. As an experienced clinical researcher, as an advocate, and as a person who has struggled with such prejudices, Corrigan challenges readers to carefully examine anti-stigma programs and reckon with their true effects.

This book examines how intellectual disability is affected by stigma and how this stigma has developed. Around two per cent of the world's population have an intellectual disability but their low visibility in many places bears witness to their continuing exclusion from society. This prejudice has an impact on the family of those with an intellectual disability as well as the individual themselves and affects the well-being and life chances of all those involved. This book provides a framework for tackling intellectual disability stigma in institutional processes, media representations and other, less overt, settings. It also highlights the anti-stigma interventions which are already in place and the central role that self-advocacy must play.

This book makes a highly innovative contribution to overcoming the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness – still the heaviest burden both for those afflicted and those caring for them. The scene is set by the presentation of different fundamental perspectives on the problem of stigma and discrimination by researchers, consumers, families, and human rights experts. Current knowledge and practice used in reducing stigma are then described, with information on the programmes adopted across the world and their utility, feasibility, and effectiveness. The core of the volume comprises descriptions of new approaches and innovative programmes specifically designed to overcome stigma and discrimination. In the closing part of the book, the editors – all respected experts in the field – summarize some of the most important evidence- and experience-based recommendations for future action to successfully rewrite the long and burdensome ‘story’ of mental illness stigma and discrimination.

This is the only text to examine the experience of disability in relation to theories of human growth and development. It provides a foundational and comprehensive examination of disability that encompasses the intellectual, psychiatric, physical, and social arenas. The second edition is updated to underscore its versatility as an introductory text about the developmental tasks of people with disabilities for all the helping professions. Reorganized to illuminate the book’s interdisciplinary focus, it includes new demographics, new case studies and first-person accounts, discussions on cultural aspects of disabilities, family concerns, and more. The text delivers practice guidelines for each of the conventional life stages and describes the developmental tasks of individuals with disabilities (IWDs). It emphasizes the positive trend in the perception of IWDs as normal and underscores the fact that IWDs have the same motivations, emotions, and goals as those without disabilities. Learning activities, suggestions for writing exercises, and websites for further study reinforce learning, as do graphs and charts illustrating trends and demographics. NEW TO THE SECOND EDITION: Introductory chapter on understanding disability Demographic updates throughout New case studies and first-person accounts Expanded discussions about cultural considerations, intersectionality, and family considerations Updated Instructor’s Manual and an Instructor’s Test Bank KEY FEATURES: Examines the conventional stages of human growth and development from the perspective of individuals with disabilities Integrates disability concepts with developmental theories and stages of the lifespan Addresses common ethical issues to illuminate the real-world implications faced by individuals with disabilities and their families Includes learning activities, suggestions for writing exercises, and websites for further study Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers.