The stigma of the mind

transforming fear into knowledge

Abstract

The stigma of mental health is one of the highly damaging problems for society, mainly by discouraging people to seek help for fear of being labeled. Lack of information reinforces attitudes of prejudice and discrimination, in that sense the mental health education emerges as a possibility to understand and differentiate between normal states and mental disorder. The “look” of the teacher and the school have key role in facilitating the dissemination of information on health and disease. A recent survey reported that a significant percentage of students (between 10% and 15%) have symptoms of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, psychosis, autism, substance abuse, conduct disorder, attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity. In this sense, educational strategies in order to promote knowledge can empower educators and other professionals linked to the school context, favoring the integral well-being (physical, mental and emotional) in the individual and collective level, as well as decrease the risk factors for the development of psychopathologies. Professional training programs in mental health for teachers and social-emotional learning promote personal resources to stimulate an environment that values and motivates people to establish emotionally positive relationships. Only with the quality of information we can combat the stigma associated with health of mind.