By Suleiman Tajudeen
CITIZENS COMPASS— Stigmatization is a social process that labels, stereotypes, and excludes individuals or groups based on a perceived undesirable attribute. In mental health, stigmatization is a leading barrier to treatment, recovery, and social inclusion. Stigmatization is also a social process through which individuals or groups are labeled, stereotyped, separated, and experience status loss and discrimination due to a characteristic perceived as different or undesirable by society.
According to Erving Goffman’s classical view, stigma is an attribute that is deeply discrediting which reduces the person from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one.
Link and Phelan’s components opined that stigmatization occurs when five interrelated components converge: labeling, stereotyping, separation, status loss, and discrimination in a power context.
Types of stigmatisation
Public stigma: Negative beliefs and attitudes held by the general population.
Self-stigma: Internalization of public stigma by the affected person.
Structural stigma: Institutional policies and practices that restrict opportunities.
Courtesy or associative stigma: Stigma extended to family, friends, or providers.
Label avoidance: Avoiding services or roles to escape being labeled.
Differences between stigma and discrimination
Stigma versus discrimination: Stigma refers to attitudes and beliefs; discrimination refers to behaviours and actions that disadvantage the stigmatized person.
Stigmatisation in mental health: Occurs when a person is labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis, stereotyped as dangerous or incompetent, separated through social distance, loses status in family or work, and experiences discrimination in housing, employment, or healthcare.
Dynamic nature: Stigma is not fixed. It is maintained or reduced by language, media, policy, and interpersonal contact.
Cultural expression: The content of stigma differs by culture. In Nigeria, mental illness is often linked to spiritual causation, moral failure, or witchcraft.
Intersectionality: Stigma intensifies when mental illness intersects with other stigmatized identities such as poverty, gender, or minority ethnicity.
Human rights dimension: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Nigeria’s National Mental Health Act 2021 recognize stigmatization as a violation of dignity and equality.
Prevalence of stigmatization
Global public attitudes: WHO (2022) reports that more than 50% of people in middle- and low-income countries believe persons with schizophrenia are dangerous.
Global social distance: World Psychiatric Association surveys show 40–70% of respondents are unwilling to have a neighbour, co-worker, or in-law with a history of mental illness.
Self-stigma worldwide: Meta-analyses indicate 36–50% of people with severe mental illness report moderate to high self-stigma.
Nigeria – causal beliefs: Community studies in Ibadan and Lagos show 65–75% of respondents attribute mental illness to evil spirits, drug use, or moral weakness Gureje et al., 2020.
Nigeria – social distance: 80–90% of respondents in multi-state surveys were unwilling to marry or employ someone with a history of psychiatric admission Adebowale & Ogunlesi, 2019.
Nigeria – Workplace: Less than 1 in 5 employers would knowingly hire a person with schizophrenia, according to Lagos HR surveys.
Media representation: Content analysis of Nigerian newspapers 2020–2023 found 68% of mental health stories were placed in crime or comic sections.
Health sector: 30% of general nurses in a South-West study endorsed the statement mental patients should be locked away.
Family impact: 60% of caregivers of persons with schizophrenia report courtesy stigma, including blame and social exclusion.
Positive trend: Following the Mental Health Act 2021 and campaigns by Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative, help-seeking in urban PHCs increased by 22% between 2021 and 2024.
Causes of stigmatisation
To be continued ….
For questions and medical consultations, contact: Dr. Suleiman Tajudeen, CEO and Director of Clinical Psychology, Clear Mind Psychological Consult, Km 15, Badagry Expressway, Ojo, Lagos. +234 803 402 4457
