Stigma in psychiatry: a review from its background, to its current situation

Abstract

The World Health Organization estimated that, by 2001, 450 million people suffered from a mental disorder. But of all of them, only a small minority received treatment, partly due to stigma. That is why the report urges the realization of education campaigns regarding the topic of stigma, and its combat. The present article makes an historical approach of stigma that aims to show its beginnings, its course, and its current situation. From there, we propose some thoughts trying to find a way to explain its nature, and maybe to begin disassembling it. We see how it was present towards madness since before the birth of psychiatry, and how with this advent, the lights of knowledge reduced the obscurantism of the pre-medical period. We see today how it is still active, expressing itself in daily comments, and even in some expressions that are supposed to be artistic. The question that appears at alltimes is: how can we get out of the current state? We hope that our work brings us a glimpse of response.