Medical Students for Mental Health Awareness

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Medical Students for Mental Health Awareness
MSMHA
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Outline

• ACTIVITY 1- Stereotypes
• DEFINING TERMS
• STIGMA
• ACTIVITY 2- Mental Illness in our world
• ACTIVITY 3- Pop Quiz
• WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Movie Clip 1
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How would people describe this person?
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Stereotypes
Psycho
Crazy
Mad Man
Wacko
Freak
Nuts
Mental
Weirdo
Lunatic
Insane
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What is Stigma?

• A word referring to the negative  mark 
  attached to people who possess any attribute,
  trait, or disorder that marks that person as
  different from  normal  people.
• This difference is seen as undesirable and
  shameful and can result in people having negative
  attitudes and responses toward another person.
• Stigmatization remains, grows or wanes as long as
  a society, as a whole, allows it to.
• Adapted from OGrady, C. (2004). Stigma
  as experienced by family members of people with
  severe mental illness. The impact of
  participation in self-help/mutual aid support
  groups. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
  University of Toronto.

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The impact of stigma

• 1) Creates negative impressions about the people
  suffering from mental illnesses (prejudice and
  discrimination)
• 2) Negative feelings about self (based on
  stereotypes)
• 3) Avoidance of help seeking for mental illness
• 4) Isolation / Withdrawal from social network
• 5) Loss of hope

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The impact of stigma

• 6) Depression
• 7) Suicide
• 8) Poverty
• 9) Housing difficulties
• 10) Employment difficulties
• Adapted from Pompili, M., Mancinelloi, I.
  Tatarelli, R. (2003). Stigma as as cuase of
  suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 183(2),
  173-174, and from Kittel canale M. (2001).
  Stigma of Addiction Final report. Toronto
  Centre for Addcition and Mental Health

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Mental Illness in our World
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What are some of their accomplishments?
Do you recognize these people?
What do they have in common?
Princess Diana
Paula Abdul
Mary-Kate Olsen
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• EATING DISORDERS

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Eating Disorders

• A range of conditions involving an obsession with
  food, weight, and appearance that negatively
  affect a persons health, relationships and daily
  life.
• Ex. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia

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What do they have in common?
John Madden
Howard Stern
Charles Darwin
Nicole Kidman
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• ANXIETY DISORDERS

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Anxiety Disorders

• Associated with feelings of anxiousness, combined
  with physiological symptoms that interfere with
  everyday activities.
• Ex. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Post-traumatic
  stress disorder, Phobias

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Movie Clip 2
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What do they have in common?
John Nash
Van Gogh
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• PSYCHOTIC DISORDER

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Psychosis

• Loss of contact with reality, when people cant
  tell what is real and what is not
• Includes delusions, hallucinations, mood changes,
  thoughts of suicide, inability to complete every
  day tasks
• Ex. Schizophrenia, depression, OCD etc..

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Movie Clip 3
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What do they have in common?
Alanis Morissette
Einstein
Robin Williams
Sheryl Crow
Drew Barrymore
Ben Stiller
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• MOOD DISORDERS

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Mood Disorders

• Persistent changes in mood caused by biochemical
  imbalances in the brain.
• Ex. Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar disorder

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Depression

• extreme feelings of sadness, dejection, lack of
  worth, and emptiness
• range from a slight lack of motivation and
  failure to concentrate to severe changes of body
  functions (sleep, appetite, aches, weight loss
  ets..)

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What do these people have in common?
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• SUICIDE

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• POP QUIZ

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• What of Ontarians have experienced at least one
  mental health problem in their lifetime?
• A. 46
• B. 22
• C. 7
• D.

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• A person who has one or two parents with mental
  illness is more likely to develop mental illness.
• A. True
• B. False

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• People with schizophrenia find that symptoms
  of hallucinations and delusions have the greatest
  impact on their lives.
• A. True
• B. False

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• People with mental illness never get better.
• True
• False

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• All homeless people are mentally ill.
• True
• False

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• There is a tendency for people with severe mental
  illness to become violent.
• A. True
• B. False

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• Suicide causes more deaths in Canada each year
  than traffic accidents?
• True
• False

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• So how can you help make a difference?

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Stamping Out Stigma

• -Acknowledge the prevalence and become informed
  about mental illness
• -Try to walk in the shoes of someone who is
  stigmatized
• -Watch your language (ie. Someone with a mental
  illness.)
• -Openly critique stigma
• -Be aware of your own attitudes and judgements
• -Take action in your community and school

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What can you do as a friend?

• Listen
• Be supportive
• Dont take on the  burden  of the mental
  illness, you are not a therapist
• Encourage your friend to seek help
• Have a  healthy  attitude towards mental illness

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What can you do if you are touched by mental
illness?

• Understand that mental illness is just like a
  physical illness
• Talk to someone
• Discuss the situation with your doctor
• Understand that most individuals with a mental
  illness cannot go through it alone, they need to
  seek help
• No one should have to live with a mental illness
  when there are so many successful treatments that
  can increase quality of life

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• Summary

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Thank you