Friday (14/1) Center for Public Mental Health (CPMH) UGM held an event entitled Stigma and Mental Health Problems. This event is a series of activities for Kuliah Online (Kulon), a mental health literacy program that is routinely held by CPMH every two weeks. This event is open to the public and is held online.
The event will be held from 1.00 PM to 3.00 PM. This event was attended by 55 participants. The speakers in this event were Nurul Kusuma Hidayati M.Psi., Psikolog, CPMH manager who is also active as a psychologist at the Unit Konsultasi Psikologi (UKP) of the Faculty of Psychology UGM and at Gadjah Mada Medical Center (GMC) and Wirdatul Anisa, M.Psi., Psikolog, active researcher at CPMH who is also active as a psychologist in the Unit Konsultasi Psikologi (UKP) of the Faculty of Psychology UGM and at the Badan Kepegawaian Pendidikan dan Pelatihan (BKPP) of Sleman Regency. On this occasion, Nurul and Anisa brought a theme that is familiar in everyday life, namely stigma against people with mental disorders and orang dengan gangguan jiwa (ODGJ).
In addition to ODGJ, stigma also often appears on ex-convicts and people living with the HIV virus. Nurul started her presentation by capturing a news story about a person living with HIV who had been shunned by society for 13 years and had difficulty getting treatment. This will worsen the situation of people with HIV because they do not get proper and intensive medical treatment.
“The stigma keeps it away from what it should be. Keep away from (medical treatment) the best that can be accessed and obtained,” explained Nurul while explaining that new stigmas easily arise in society and it is a shared task to eliminate them.
Furthermore, the second speaker explained about stigma. According to Anisa, stigma is a negative label attached to certain people and groups. This stigma is formed from the culture and social structure that exists in society.
Anisa also explained that there are two types of stigma, namely public stigma and self stigma. Public stigma is a negative attitude that members of society have about people with a devalued character or being viewed as inferior and bad. Meanwhile, self-stigma is a negative attitude from society that is internalized to oneself.
“So we too can stigmatize ourselves. So it’s not only the surrounding environment that gives a stigma about mental health. But we can also have that stigma,” explained Anisa.
The impact of stigma on people with mental disorders causes several treatments that further limit people with mental disorders from getting social support from the surrounding environment. Anisa explained that the exclusion of people with mental disorders in community activities made her more powerless and felt worthless which in the end would affect her quality of life.
Furthermore, Anisa also explained about how to overcome stigma. To overcome self-stigma, what can be done is to increase mental health literacy, cognitive restructuring, individual empowerment, family support, and peer support. Meanwhile, to overcome public stigma, you can use mental health education, social contacts, and systemic advocacy from all levels of society. Overcoming stigma can also be done with psychological intervention. Among them are Go-To Educator Training (GTET), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and art interventions.
In the last session, the speaker discussed myths and facts that are often difficult for people to distinguish when dealing with mental disorders. The event closed with a question and answer session and interactive discussion between the presenters and event participants.