Social Analysis
Why does the discrimination against mental illness happen?
People with mental health challenges often face discrimination due to stereotypes and stigma. Below is a chart outlining various kinds of stigma and stereotypes commonly experienced by individuals with mental illness.
different types of stigma toward mental illnesses
Internally/Externally Oppressed
External oppression means that certain groups of people are discriminated against and lose privileges in society, while the internal oppression means such group of people accept this injustice. For mental health discrimination in China, specifically, mental illness patients are oppressed both internally and externally. They are externally oppressed because they are not treated fairly in finding work and in school. However, what is more serious is that they are also being internally oppressed. Some of them have not even recognized the issue yet, because they have already gotten used to it.
Intersectionality
The discrimination toward mental illnesses in China could have intersectionality with other factors, like gender, race, etc, which could cause another level of discrimination. For example, society tends to think females are more prone to get depression than males.
Interrelation Between Ideology and Social Structure
Take gender as an example of how ideology and social structure interrelated specifically in mental health. People tend to think women are more likely to be emotional and get depression than men, which shows how social structure contributes to ideology, because men and women are categorized by different social structures, and ideology in this case would be the stereotype that women are more emotional. However, if people think of women and the first thing that comes to mind is emotional and depressed, this would be an example of how the ideology is applied to social structure.