AN ANTI‐STIGMA APPROACH TO WORKING WITH PERSONS WITH SEVERE MENTAL DISABILITY: SEEKING REAL CHANGE THROUGH NARRATIVE CHANGE

Abstract

Self‐stigma is the process whereby individuals expect to be discriminated against by society and in turn hold prejudicial beliefs about themselves. Self‐stigma is particularly difficult for persons with severe mental disability (SMD) as they often experience stigma from the public and, thus, allow the public stigma to foster self‐stigma. Public and self‐stigma are theorised to be comprised of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. This paper proposes that in order to decrease self‐stigma among persons with SMD, social work and mental health practitioners need to intervene on an individual and/or societal level to dispute stereotypes, prevent prejudices and combat discrimination. We propose an individual‐level, anti‐stigma approach utilising social constructivism, adaptive systems theory and narrative therapy to empower persons with SMD to reconstruct their sense of self that is free from stigma.

Keywords:

• self‐stigma
• severe mental disability
• social constructivism
• adaptive systems theory
• narrative therapy
• empowerment