Abstract

DALLA VECCHIA PEREIRA, Liana Cristina  and  SKOVDAL, Morten. “It pulls you down, but you need it to access the benefits”: the double-edged sword of mental illness diagnosis. Cienc. Psicol. [online]. 2022, vol.16, n.1, e2220.  Epub June 01, 2022. ISSN 1688-4094.  https://doi.org/10.22235/cp.v16i1.2220.

Mental ill-health is rife in all corners of the world. Mental illness diagnosis simultaneously names the problem and labels a person. Taking a social representations perspective, this phenomenological study explores how 12 people living with a mental disorder in Barcelona, Spain, experienced their diagnosis. They experienced having to process what this “diagnosis for life” meant for their sense of self. Immediate encounters of stereotyping and changes in their social relations, reinforced their experience of being “stigmatized for life” and seen as “mentally ill all the time”. Participants did however also note that the diagnosis helped them make sense of the past and the future, including enabling access to specific benefits, which supported their recovery and helped them make ends meet - highlighting the ambivalence of mental illness diagnosis. This study highlights the need to consider the social context and patients’ narrated experiences of diagnosis centre stage.

Keywords : mental health; mental diseases; psychological diagnosis; psychiatric diagnosis; social representation; stigmatization; Spain.

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