Empowerment, wherein people gain more control over the decisions and actions that influence their health, is a key concept in health promotion. Footnote 81 Focus group participants expressed an interest in accessing a variety of interventions. There is a wide range of psychosocial and self-help interventions known to be helpful for common mental health problems, Footnote 82 and Canadians could benefit from education about what works and how to access it. Technology could be a useful tool in this regard, by providing access to web-based information and self-help interventions. Footnote 83 We did not investigate self-perceived capacity to help others with mental health problems, but there is no reason to think that Canadians would differ significantly from people in other countries in this regard. Educational initiatives could be implemented in Canada to improve individual capacity to provide support to others with mental health problems, as has been done elsewhere. Footnote 84
The research literature shows that the public tends to characterize severe mental disorders but not common mental disorders, as “mental illness”, and has negative perceptions of mental illness including fears of unpredictability and violence. Footnote 85 People also resist medical explanations for common mental disorders, and are more inclined to recommend medical interventions for serious mental illness. Footnote 86
Focus group results indicate that Canadians share these tendencies. Both rounds of focus group discussions included a question about what thoughts and images come to mind when people hear the term “mental illness”. Most groups mentioned schizophrenia. In every group, stereotypical responses emerged, including terms such as “crazy”, “out of control”, “unpredictable” and the like. Many suggested this is how other people think or used to think, not how they think, and many said that these perspectives are not representative of most persons with mental disorders. However, some people were very open about their own negative conceptions of mental illness including images of out of control, violent or heavily medicated individuals and institutions. For other participants, mental illness evokes fear, of danger or loss of identity.
“I think about – I hope I don’t offend anyone – crazy. Someone who cannot control themselves, someone who needs help, who might hurt themselves or somebody else, could be a threat to the general public.”
In both series of focus group discussions, people made a clear distinction between common mental disorders (such depression and anxiety) and serious disorders (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder). The former are seen as “mental health problems”, which are situational, transitory, and not requiring of medical treatment. The participants reserved the term “mental illness” for serious mental disorders, which are chronic, impair capacity to function in life, and call for medical intervention. Most agreed that anyone could suffer from mental health problems but fewer people would be at risk for a mental illness.
Return to note 81 WHO, 1998
Return to note 82 Gazmararian et al, 2000; Jorm, 2000; Jorm et al, 2002; Jorm et al, 2004
Return to note 83 Ratzan, 2001; Christensen et al, 2004
Return to note 84 Kitchener and Jorm, 2002; Kitchener and Jorm, 2004; Jorm et al, 2005b; Jorm et al, 2007
Return to note 85 Pescosolido et al, 1999; Walker and Read, 1999; Phelan et al, 2000; Martin et al 2000; Gray, 2002; Prior et al, 2003; Lauber et al 2004.
Return to note 86 Jorm, 1997b; Angermeyer and Matschinger, 1999; Link et al, 1999; Walker and Read 2002; Prior et al, 2003; Lauber et al, 2003a; Phelan et al, 2006.