A Descriptive Study of Stigmatization of Mental Illness: Findings from Yobe State, Nigeria

Mental illness is a clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome associated with distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning), or with a significantly increased risk of suffering, death or an important loss of freedom. In addition, the syndrome must not be merely a predictable and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event, such as the death of a loved one. Whatever its original source, it must be considered a manifestation of a behavioural, psychological or biological dysfunction in the individual (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Mental illness can affect anyone. But some people are more at risk than others due to factors such as age, gender, economic status, disability or substance abuse. When it arises, mental illness reduces the sufferer to a level of helplessness, thereby leading to suffering. It affects the individual’s process of thinking and ability to function, consequently reducing his/her social roles and overall productivity in the community. Mental health problems place a huge burden on the family and the community at large. They are the leading cause of all non-fatal disease worldwide (Whiteford et al., 2013). Mental illness can develop at different stages of an individual’s life. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is evident from very early childhood, when children start school, as their behaviour can be compared to others of the same age, whereas conditions such as schizophrenia can develop in the late teens to early twenties for men and early to late twenties in women, There are no set conditions as to whom mental illness can affect; it often depends on the individuals’ life circumstances and events, just as is the case with physical illness (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).