Stigmatization at Persons with Mental Disorders

For my bachelor thesis I chose the topic The Stigmatization of Persons with a Mental Disorder. The thesis is divided into two parts the theoretical and the practical. In the theoretical part, I deal with mental health, mental illnesses and its division according to MKN 10, the history of care for the mentally ill, the status of mentally ill people in society. I also focus on social work with people with mental illnesses and the stigmatization of persons with mental diseases. The aim of the research part of this thesis is to find out, whether and in what areas of life mentally ill people are stigmatized. Another aim is to find out, whether and in what areas of life social workers, who work with mentally ill persons, are stigmatized. Qualitative method is used in the practical part of this thesis. For this part was used an interrogation method and a method of semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two employees and four users of Domino services for people with a mental illness in the City charity České Budějovice (hereinafter Domino). Users and workers in Domino were chosen according to a method of quota sampling. Criterion for the selection of communication partners from among Domino was a willingness to cooperate and at least two-year experience in the field. Criterion for the selection of communication partners from among Domino was a willingness to cooperate and at least five-year duration of illness. Results of interviews with users showed using of this social service helps them and they would recommend it to other people with similar problems. Interviews also showed that these users are faced with various difficulties that make their life difficult. Family and friends have turned away from two of the four communication partners. Results of the research indicate that one of the users does not feel to be stigmatized in any area of life, two users feel to be stigmatized in some areas of life and one user feels to be stigmatized in almost all areas of life. Results of interviews with female employees also showed that working with this target group brings different pros and cons, but one of the partners cannot find any positives in this work. In this organisation is worked with stigmatization and destigmatizion, this social service is also trying to be presented to the public in order to disseminate this target group. None of these communication partners feels to be stigmatized in any areas of life. According to them, this is because the public does not know with what target group they work. Communication partners think, people with the mental disorder are stigmatized in our society. They know some of the myths and prejudices that circulate about mentally ill people in our society. They both believe that media have the largest share in this situation. This thesis may serve as a source of information for general public and professionals in issues of stigmatization of people with the mental disorder