Tynisha Pratt

Mrs. Oakes
HSP 3U
June 12th 2014

Stigma With Mental Disorders

Question
Do teenagers today stigmatize people with mental disorders?
I asked myself this
question. To answer it i conducted a survey. I surveyed 50 students at Welland
Centennial Secondary School, ages 14-19, 22 boys, 28 girls and 18 of those
students have mental illnesses.
Hypothesis
I hypothesize that due to the education from school and modern medias, 80% of
the students I survey will not stigmatize people with mental disorders.
Data
Do you have a mental illness? If so name which illness(es).
Mental Illness

% of people surveyed

% of Boys

% Girls

Anxiety

16%

0%

100%

Depression

12%

0%

100%

OCD

6%

33.5%

66.5%

Bipolar

2%

0%

100%

Eating Disorder

2%

0%

100%

ADHD

2%

100%

0%

Sociopath

2%

100%

100%

I have one but I

dont want to say

4%

0%

100%

None

64%

59%

41%

True or False?
Statement

% False
(Correct)

% of people who
answered correctly
AND
have mental
illnesses

% True
(Incorrect)

% of people who
answered
incorrectly
AND
have mental
illnesses

The mentally
ill cannot
maintain a
steady job.

86%

36%

14%

0%

Depressed
people are
always sad.

78%

32%

22%

4%

People with
Schizophrenia
have multiple
personalities.

52%

20%

48%

16%

Electric Shock
Therapy is
torture.

34%

28%

66%

8%

Suicidal
people want
to die.

34%

18%

66%

18%

Statement

% True
(Correct)

% of people who
answered correctly
AND
have mental
illnesses

% False
(Incorrect)

% of people who
answered
incorrectly
AND
have mental
illnesses

Self-Harm,
Anorexia and
Bulimia are
mental
illnesses.

80%

36%

20%

0%

(100% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(88% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(52% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(77% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(50% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(100% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(12% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(44% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(23% of those
with mental
illnesses)

(50% of those
with mental
illnesses)

Which are a mental illnesses?

Illness

% that believes it is
NOT
a mental illness

% of non believers who

HAVE
mental illnesses

Depression

12%

0%

Schizophrenia

20%

40%

Psychosis

44%

41%

Drug and Alcohol

Addiction

60%

60%

Where do you learn about mental illnesses?

Where

% Total

% Boys

% Girls

School

32%

43%

57%

Media

28%

50%

50%

I dont know

22%

45%

55%

Doctors

18%

11%

89%

Family

14%

57%

43%

Friends

10%

20%

80%

Analysis
32% of students that I surveyed learn about mental illnesses from school, and
28% learn about mental illness from media. This supports part of my hypothesis,
that teenagers learn about mental illnesses from school and modern medias.
18% of the students that I surveyed learn about mental illness from their doctors.
89% of those students are girls. This suggests that girls are more comfortable
talking about mental illnesses (possibly their own) with their doctors than boys.
Therefore girls would be more educated than boys about mental illnesses.
20% of the students that I surveyed believed that Schizophrenia is not a mental
illness and 44% believed that Psychosis is not a mental illness. This contradicts
my hypothesis by suggesting that teenagers stigmatize people with mental

illnesses because they are not as educated about more severe and less common
mental illnesses.
60% of the students that I surveyed believed that Drug and Alcohol Addictions
are not mental illnesses. 60% of those students have a mental illness. This
contradicts my hypothesis by suggesting that teenagers stigmatize drug and
alcohol addicts and do not consider them ill. Even those who have mental
illnesses themselves think this way.
I asked the question Can the mentally ill maintain a steady job?. 86% of the
students I surveyed believed that they can and 14% believed that they could not.
Everyone that I survey who had a mental illness believed that they can maintain
a steady job. I also asked the question Are Self-harm, Anorexia and Bulimia
mental illnesses?. 80% of the students I surveyed believed that they are and
20% believed that they are not. Again, everyone that I survey who had a mental
illness believed that Self-harm, Anorexia and Bulimia are mental illnesses. This
suggests that a large portion of the students I surveyed do not stigmatize people
with mental illnesses and those who do do not have mental illnesses and possible
do not understand them.
I asked the question Do people with Schizophrenia have multiple personalities?.
48% of the students I surveyed believed that they do (which is incorrect) and
only 52% believed that they do not (which is correct). 16% of those who
answered incorrectly also have mental illnesses. I also asked the question Do
suicidal people want to die?. 66% of the students I surveyed believed that they
do (which is incorrect) and only 34% believed that they do not (which is correct).
18% of those who answered incorrectly also have mental illnesses. This
contradicts my hypothesis by suggesting that teenagers stigmatize people with
mental disorders based on propaganda and not fact.
Conclusions
I hypothesized that due to the education from school and modern medias, 80% of
the students I survey will not stigmatize people with mental disorders. I conclude
that this hypothesis is only partially supported. The survey I conducted supported
that teenagers learn about mental illnesses from school and modern medias. I
also concluded that girls are less likely to stigmatize than boys due to the amount
of knowledge they have about mental illnesses, and that teenagers are less likely
to stigmatize general and more common mental illnesses than severe and less
common ones because they know very little about them. The students I surveyed
that had mental illnesses did not stigmatize as much as those who did not,
whoever they were still unclear about the less common mental illnesses. In
general I conclude that, out of the teenagers I surveyed, only approximately 46%

do not stigmatize people with mental illnesses and approximately 54% stigmatize
people with mental illnesses due to their lack of knowledge, propaganda and
ignorance.