UNDERSTANDING STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION IN MENTAL HEALTH, A QUALITYRIGHTS INQUEST

When a nation cries for Rights for persons with mental health conditions, yet it executes structural and institutionalized stigma and discrimination on them, such nation becomes a nation of talkers and dreamers.

Introduction

The level of awareness of the average Ghanaian on mental health and all its ramifications has recently risen due to improved awareness creation and advocacy by various stakeholders who have thronged the mental health space. Alternatively, it could be attributed in a way, to the increased level of perceived mental health vices sprawling the airwaves in recent years. Either way, this awakening brings the nation to a reality that may have inherently hampered its growth and development over the years and to which it may have to act now if this nation is to ever wrap itself in its long perceived “glory”.

The Ghanaian youth today is visibly blinded by the opulent monetized economy which seems to be defining all segments of our lives. It is interesting to note that the youth of today have been exposed to the intrinsic consciousness that money solves all problems and yet, they have not been made to understand the accompanying hard work and perseverance that precedes the creation of wealth. This un-sequenced orientation of the Ghanaian youth, coupled with modern economic hardships is placing a lot of stress on most of the youth in the country, compelling them to indulge in all sorts of social vices in a bid to get “rich quick”.

Some of these social vices include, but are not limited to betting addiction, alcohol and drug use and recently the perceived easy yet a criminal alternative to gaining wealth, i.e ritual murders and “sakawa”. This drive to attain wealth particularly among the youth is putting them under so much pressure which eventually leaves them frustrated and depressed. They are at this point predisposed to several other mental health conditions such as substance abuse and attempted suicide in their effort to escape from the quagmire they find themselves in. In effect, the nation is breeding a generation of youth who are heavily predisposed to mental health conditions. However, it turns around to punish and stigmatize this very creation of its by instituting laws and policies that dehumanize their conditions. This phenomenon thus gets these disturbed youth to shy away from, and refuse to accept the very invisible scars that eat them up daily.

Ghana does not hesitate to wave its democratic badges before other African nations and is often not shy to tout its human rights credentials into the faces of other nations of the world. However, what the nation cannot confidently do is tout such same credentials in the area of mental health and for persons with psychosocial, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities. For starters, all one has to do is associate him or herself with something related to mental health and be rest assured of being stigmatized or discriminated against in one way or the other. Interestingly, should the average Ghanaian decide to talk about stigma and discrimination, the focus has always been on the person being stigmatized, but the talk about who and where these abuses emanate from is always kept in the doldrums.
Stigma and discrimination, an affront to the Protection of Rights

For the most part, the discussion on stigma and discrimination has focused on an explanatory model, which is based on individual or psychological levels.

These models, which have greatly increased our understanding of how to diminish stigma’s impact, explain stigma by examining the socio-cognitive elements of the stigmatizer, who perceives a stigmatizing mark, endorses the negative stereotypes about people with the perceived mark, and behaves toward the marked group in a discriminatory manner. A macro-social level of analysis uncovers a separate set of factors that lead to discrimination against persons with psychosocial, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities. One of such factors is the kind of policies that institutions, both public and private put in place, which by design, restrict the opportunities of persons with psychosocial, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities.

This is an affront to QualityRights, as the rights of these persons are automatically curtailed as a result of instituted rules and regulations. A second factor that tends to be the case in most instances is policies of institutions that yield unintended consequences that hinder the wellbeing and opportunities of persons with psychosocial, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities.