Healthcare practitioners have to encounter a range of health issues each day. There’s no restriction on what clients can show up through the doors, which means that healthcare professionals need to tackle every person adequately. While some might present with basic illnesses that are straightforward to handle, the issue can be much more insidious for others. Mental health disorders are increasingly common in today’s populace, and without professional help, these problems will only exacerbate.
Even in today’s day and age, there is a lot of stigma surrounding the topic. Clients are afraid of being labeled or being seen differently and facing discrimination. However, various barriers keep people suffering from mental health issues from seeking help. Although the healthcare system needs to work collectively to reduce stigma, nurses can play a pivotal role in turning the tables. Below, we’ll talk more about how nurses can reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
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Bring change from the top
When enacting any change, it’s essential to ensure that it comes from the top. Only then can you ensure lasting results for whatever change you enact. Nurse leaders can thus play a vital role in bringing about practices that ensure lasting change in healthcare systems. They can work with newer batches and educate them on handling mental health issues with care and sensitivity. Often, people suffering from mental distress are already incredibly sensitive and vulnerable.
Focusing on mental health can allow you to deal with these populations in a much better way. With a masters in nursing, you can be better equipped to handle mental health problems with greater sensitivity. While an undergraduate nursing degree is more generalized, an online masters degree allows you to specialize in any area of your choosing. Thus, getting an online masters nursing can help you reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in healthcare professionals.
Address personal biases
Often, what can keep us from reducing the stigma surrounding such issues are our personal biases. It’s easy to have unconscious biases regarding mental health, which we forget to address. It is only recently that the attitudes surrounding mental health are changing. So, most of us grew up listening to a conversation about mental health that wasn’t as accepting as it should have been. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t address these biases now.
Reducing the usage of words such as ‘crazy’ or ‘retard’ is a huge step. It can help you understand why such terms can be incredibly damaging to people. Furthermore, it is also essential to recognize that disorders such as depression and anxiety don’t occur because of someone’s ‘weak’ temperament but because of biopsychosocial factors which cannot be dealt with. Once you address such biases, you can tend to individuals with mental health issues with greater sensitivity and empathy. Understanding the symptoms of these disorders can also help you understand why a person may be acting a certain way.
Don’t casually toss around diagnoses
One of the most damaging yet ignored ways to increase the stigma around mental health disorders is casually tossing around diagnoses. It’s common for people to use terms like ‘being depressed’ if you’re feeling low or saying you have ‘OCD’ if you’re super organized. However, this can do immense harm to people suffering from these disorders. It can make them seem much more common than they are, and people can write them off as personality quirks instead of what they are.
In reality, suffering from such disorders is anything other than ‘quirky.’ It can be intensely debilitating and interfere with people’s social, professional, and personal lives. Hearing such terms used casually from regular people is one thing, but hearing them from healthcare professionals has entirely different implications. Therefore, nurses need to recognize the gravity of such issues and use these terms correctly if required.
Spread awareness
One of the best ways nurse professionals can reduce the stigma surrounding this topic is by spreading awareness. Stigma results when we have insufficient knowledge about a topic and might have fears due to this reason. Once you spread awareness regarding what mental health is and isn’t, you can reduce its stigma. People will be much more susceptible to changing their viewpoint if they hear the information from someone respected as a nurse.
You can educate people on how to deal with people dealing with mental health issues around them. It can include giving training sessions, holding group therapy, and helping people treat their loved ones well. Nurses can also have the latest information on the topic and can inform people through evidence-based research. Using empirical knowledge and statistics can show people how mental health issues are real and urge them to take action.
Urge people to seek help
One of the best ways nurses can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health is by urging people to seek help. Most mental health issues get out of hand because people don’t seek help when they need to. In turn, this can cause lasting damage to the sufferer and their family members. However, if you urge people to seek help when they need it, you can prevent many relationships from falling apart.
Nurse practitioners can urge people to seek help by teaching them to spot the signs of mental health issues. If symptoms continue for a certain period and cause significant impairment, it’s better to seek help. They can provide you with an objective opinion of your problems and can help you unlock your potential. Destigmatizing seeing a therapist and assisting people to recognize when they need a professional can help immensely normalize mental health.
Conclusion
Nurses have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders when it comes to dealing with their patients. While some patients present simpler complaints, others may have issues that need deeper counseling. Seeking professional help, building a support system, and normalizing mental health issues can help immensely. Reducing the stigma surrounding mental health is vital towards building a healthier, happier society, and nurses can play an important role.
