How the Stigmatized Deflect: Managing Stigmatizing Mental Health Labels in the Criminal Justice System

• In Event: 1103 - Social Justice Approaches to Mental Health: Addressing Marginalization, Exclusion, and Racism

Abstract

The high numbers of mentally ill men and women incarcerated today are indisputable. This paper identifies the various ways by which people with mental illness labels involved with the criminal justice system attempt to manage stigma, including how stigma is anticipated and experienced, deflected, or avoided. When can stigma resistance be effective? How does stigma perception relate to how people seek out and/or stick with appropriate treatment. This study fills a gap by providing descriptive data about the lived experiences of this hard-to-reach, routinely excluded population, and as such findings will add supplemental insights to the existing literature. Analysis through coding information from semi-structured interviews can provide indications of how people attempt to manage and resist stigmatized identities. This data can be useful for determining the directions for support that will be most helpful for those who are most negatively affected by mental health labeling. This work also provides insight into the importance of understanding how participants anticipate being the targets of public stigma, as well as exploring the actual lived experiences of discrimination pertaining to being labelled mentally ill. I ask what strategies (if any) are employed and how to resist the stigmatization process. Through the analysis of the narratives provided, approaches can be identified that both parallel and diverge from previous theoretical conceptualization and empirical findings.

Author

• Ruth Frances Richardson, Georgia State University