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Stigma in Rural Settings

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Mental Health and Illness in Rural World

Part of the book series: Mental Health and Illness Worldwide ((MHIW))

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Abstract

Stigma against people with mental illness is rife. Stigma can be defined as the assignation to a person of a label that marks them out, tarnishes them, and leads to their exclusion by society. Consequently funding for research and services is very strongly affected, and that feeds into ongoing stigma. Most of the community psychiatric services are in urban areas, whereas asylums and old-fashioned institutions are on the verge of urban conurbations or in rural settings, thereby increasing isolation and perhaps contributing further to stigma. Reasons for the persistence of this stigma are many and include lack of knowledge as well as creation of the other which confirms individual’s own identity. There are some differences in attitudes toward people with mental illness between rural and urban populations. In this chapter these reasons are explored.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Women’s Mental Health, Department of Health Services and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychologu and Neuroscience, De Cresigny Park, London, UK

    Vishal Bhavsar

  2. Department of Psychosis Studies, King’s College London, London, UK

    Dinesh Bhugra

Authors
  1. Vishal Bhavsar
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  2. Dinesh Bhugra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vishal Bhavsar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. N Inst. of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Santosh Chaturvedi

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Bhavsar, V., Bhugra, D. (2019). Stigma in Rural Settings. In: Chaturvedi, S. (eds) Mental Health and Illness in Rural World. Mental Health and Illness Worldwide. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0751-4_31-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0751-4_31-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0751-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0751-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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