Download Stop the Stigma Grade Level: 9-10 Topic(s): Mental health, mental

Stop the Stigma
Grade Level: 9-10
Topic(s): Mental health, mental illness, inclusive environment
Subject Area(s): Health, social studies
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this activity, students will understand the concept
of stigma, its causes and impact.
Materials Required:
 Blackboard or flipchart
 Chalk/markers
 Stop the Stigma Poem
 S.T.O.P Criteria
 Stop the Stigma: Class Questions and Teacher Answer Sheet
Instructions:
1. Ask students to define the term stigma. Write their answers on the board.
 Possible answers might include:
“A mark or sign of disgrace or discredit.”
“A visible sign or characteristic of a disease.”
(The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1990)
“An attribute that is deeply discrediting.”
(Goffman, E., Stigma: The management of spoiled identity, 1963)
“A distinguishing mark or characteristic of a bad or objectionable kind; a
sign of some specific disorder, as hysteria.”
“A mark of disgrace or infamy; a sign of severe censure or condemnation,
regarded as impressed on a person or thing.”
(The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary)
2. Write the following terms on the blackboard for students to see.
 Stereotype - “a person or thing that conforms to a unjustifiable fixed
impression or attitude”
 Prejudice - “a preconceived opinion”
 Discrimination - “unfavourable treatment based on prejudice”
(The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1990)
3. Break students into groups of four or five and provide them with one question
listed below. Ask students to come up with five answers in five minutes and write
them down.
4. Have students choose one group member to report answers back to the class.
5. If time allows, read the poem Stop the Stigma by Mary Hopkins. Inform the
class that this poem was created by a person who survived mental illness.
6. Ask a student volunteer to read The STOP Criteria to the class.
7. If time permits, lead a class discussion about students’ thoughts on the stigma of
mental illness.
Sources:
 Healthy Issues for Youth: A Resource Manual for Teacher Advisor Program,
Lambton Health Unit, 2001.
 Mary Hopkins, Sarnia-Lambton Consumer Survivor’s Group, 2001.
 Talking about Mental Illness, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2001.
Stop the Stigma: Class Questions
1. What are some of the negative things you have heard about people with mental
illness?
2. What are some of the positive things you have heard about people with mental
illness?
3. Why do you think people with mental illness are stigmatized?
4. Can you think of any other health conditions or social issues that have been
stigmatized throughout history?
5. What kinds of factors have contributed to changing public perceptions around
some of these conditions or issues?
6. What do you think influences perceptions about people with mental illness?
7. How do you think stigma affects the lives of people with mental illness?
Stop the Stigma
Questions and Answers - Teacher’s Copy
1. What are some of the negative things you have heard about people with mental
illness?
Possible answers include: They are dangerous. They are outcasts. They
are weird.
2. What are some of the positive things you have heard about people with mental
illness?
Possible answers include: Some people say those with mental illness are
creative and artistic. While this may seem positive, you may want to
remind students it is also a form of stereotyping.
3. Why do you think people with mental illness are stigmatized?
Possible answers include: They are seen as being different. People don’t
understand what mental illness is.
4. Can you think of any other health conditions or social issues that have been
stigmatized throughout history?
Possible answers include: Homosexuality, leprosy, unwed motherhood,
divorce, AIDS.
5. What kinds of factors have contributed to changing public perceptions around
some of these conditions or issues?
Possible issues include: Education, public policy, open dialogue, scientific
research, changing social mores.
6. What do you think influences perceptions about people with mental illness?
Possible answers include: The media - news, newspaper headlines and
stories that associate people with mental illness with violence or suicide;
the fact that people with mental illness sometimes behave differently and
people are afraid of what they don’t understand.
7. How do you think stigma affects the lives of people with mental illness?
Possible answers include: It makes them unhappy. They may not be able
to get a job or find housing. It may prevent someone from seeking help. It
may cause them to lose their friends. It can negatively affect the whole
family.
STOP the Stigma
Poem by Mary Hopkins, a consumer survivor
I would never blame the parents or family of a person who develops kidney disease.
I would never describe a person with Multiple Sclerosis as emotionally weak.
I have never heard a newscaster describe a violent criminal as slightly asthmatic.
I have never heard that a person with Arthritis has a diminished learning and mental
capacity.
I have never asked a Cancer patient to “snap out of it”.
I would never fear a Diabetic because they might be contagious.
I would never say that a person with Leukemia is to blame for their own illness.
I would never go to a theatre to watch a movie based on the unusual antics of a person
with Cerebral Palsy.
It is, after all, the start of the new millennium, and we are far more knowledgeable and
sophisticated than ever before. I would wager that you would never make these
judgments either.
But I live with a Mental Illness and all the above have been attributed to me and others
in the same situation.
The only thing that it takes for that which is wrong to triumph is for those that know what
is right to do nothing.
The STOP Criteria
Stereotyping people with mental illness
Trivializing and belittling people with mental illness
Offending people with mental illness
Patronizing people with mental illness
STOPtheStigma