For every great work, there is an objective.
The mental health awareness campaign is aimed at increasing awareness in the country about the suffering, pain and disturbance associated to the mental health issues of the sufferer, making them aware of the treatment models available, giving them insights of how to break the stigma which is the main obstacle in the way of accessing treatment services or seeking help from the relevant professionals.
Therefore, the objectives are the following described one by one to help the clients searching for the treatment or those who need the treatment but never take a step towards it.
- Stigma reduction:
The main aim of our awareness campaign is to reduce the stigma. Stigma is the name of the fear and loss of identity due to the stereotyped labels used by the society that people feel is associated to seeking mental health treatment. Clients going for mental health services are labelled with some unethical names which further decreases their will to seek treatment for their mental health. Stigma is very common, and it is one of the main reasons, which stops the clients from seeking mental health services.
- It has prejudice and discrimination because the clients feel they will be excluded socially after they reveal their mental health issues, and their friends or fellows will avoid them, and they will be given less importance in their social groups.
- After revealing their mental health issues, clients feel they will be discriminated in their relationship also that their family, relatives, or close relatives will think of them as being a person lacking in mental health.
- Some people doing jobs will be fearing that they might lose jobs if they reveal their psychological issues.
- Due to a stronger societal stigma the clients will think negative about themselves that they are bad and of no worth meaning they will blame themselves for the psychological problems and thus further stopping them from seeking help.
- Owing to the fear of judgement, clients suffering from mental health issues will avoid friends and thus withdrawal from social groups. These further decreases seeking mental health services because of the social isolation and the social group is of great importance when somebody shares his problems and the group support their members.
- Stigma is so dangerous that it further causes delay in the treatment of psychological disturbances owing to its continued suffering and the thinking of the clients that the people will label them as crazy or mad.
- Stigma stops individuals from the available treatment options or new trends available which can further ease the treatment process such as the online apps and websites used nowadays where the therapists and counselors connect with clients from their homes.
- Stigma can further create doubts about the health conditions of the sufferer thinking that he or she is physically weak and mental health problems are very rare and do not really exist.
- Some of the cultural factors also contribute in stigmatizing the mental health issues because they do not accept it as a serious problem in their culture and they avoid such discussion and seeking help which further exacerbates the problem.
- One of the main reasons is the resistance on the part of the client that he or she does want to disclose the truth about their mental health issues thinking that their care givers and clinical or counselling psychologist will get to know about his or her condition. This also can stop them from seeking professional services.
- The stigma can interfere during the treatment process run by the clinical or counselling psychologist and thus can result in the withdrawal from the treatment process. Here, the clients may think that they will be persecuted in the society by having mental health issues and they may resist and withdraw from the treatment.
- Generalization: fear of being judged on every action as being mentally ill.
