1500- 2000 words paper

Running Head: STIGMA 1

STIGMA 5

Name

Course

Tutor

Institution

Date

The society has a way in which it categorizes different people who live in it and thus making they live according to the expectation that have been bestowed on them and their identity. When one is not in a position to live according to the laid down expectations then it means that he or she is left out in the category. In most of the cases stigma is situational in that someone might experience stigma due to the language of relationship that he or she uses and has with people. For example an individual who is known to participate in criminal activities might experience stigma from the people around him. A person who is under stigma faces discrimination from the normal people and this might be as a result of difference in culture, race gender, health and even intelligence (Katz, 2014).

The Theory of Stigma

According to Goffman, stigma is a behavior, reputation or an attribute that is socially discrediting in a particular way. It makes an individual to be classified by others as undesirable, rejected and not worthy to be treated as a normal human being. An individual facing stigma can experience self-esteem and self-image issues and thus end up committing suicide. Stigma is usually associated with what people fear most.

An example of a stigma situation is when an individual is realized to be HIV positive victim. This is a health condition that most of the people would not want to be associated with. These patients are usually blamed for being different from the rest of the normal people. Most of the people see the HIV patients as dying people and people who cannot live to do everything that other people do. They are usually gossiped, rejected and even insulted. They are separated and not allowed to engage in any social activities (Rueda et al., 2016).

People living with HIV and AIDS find it difficult to tell people about their condition including their family members due to fear of discrimination and stigma. This has a very negative impact since most of them end up leading in isolation and discrimination. They know that they can never be treated and get well.

Stigma in most of the cases whether it is real or perceived usually gives birth to misconceptions, choices and myths which in the end impact the education given to people on HIV. This makes people suffering from HIV to believe some of the things that people say concerning the disease even when they are not correct. Stigma is a very strong killer compared to the disease itself. This is because it makes the individual to feel that he does not deserve to live and due to this he or she may go ahead into doing away with drugs that boost his or her immunity and thus quick death (Page, 2015).

What stigma does?

Most of the time stigma is not the right way to treat an individual since in the end it leads to self-denial and thus an individual might not make any effort concerning his or her health for example in the case of a HIV victim, it may make him or her not to be tested or see a physician for further guidance and counseling. The individuals are denied a right to live the way other normal people are living and thus live in isolation and loneliness. Some of the victims can end up being physically violent. This is for the purpose of self-defense. The people involved might end up facing mental health problems and thus get out of control (Link & Phelan, 2014).

Stigma especially can severely affect the HIV victims in that they can be denied employment or accommodation because of the perception that people have concerning their illness. They can also be denied food and other basic needs because most of the people think that when they get to share with them utensils, clothes and other things they will also get infected.

Ways to do away with Stigma

Stigma is not a good thing especially to a society that is still growing. This is because there will be division and people who are stigmatized would lose interest of even interacting and working together. It is important for the community to take charge and ensure that everyone is treated equally and that they are able to access the necessary opportunities that will make them positively contribute to the economy of the society.

Some of the things that can be done to reduce stigma among the HIV patients include carrying out a campaign on HIV. This means that when you are talking to people about the disease make sure that you avoid the use of certain terms that might have a negative impact on the people. The people living with HIV also need encouragement like any other normal person and thus it is our duty as individuals to give them support through what we say to them and others (Earnshaw et al., 2015).

Talk to people about some of the myths and misconceptions that are not true and that can cause more harm to the victims. Ensure that you make them as an individual understand that we are all affected or infected by the virus in some way.

Give hope to the ones infected and make them gain an understanding that one can still live a long life even if infected by the disease. This is because of the drugs that have been discovered that boost the immunity of the patient and thus can even live up to 20 years with the infection. Make sure that you are able to respond to the needs of the stigmatized population.

Make sure that the individual infected by HIV are involved in giving service to the community and that they are given an opportunity to work and perform daily duties just like other normal people. When the HIV victims are actively involved then it means that it will be easier for them to have a reason to live.

There are different forms of stigma that are social, moral, gender and race. This means that stigma is everywhere around us. We are the only people who can make an effort and ensure that it dies down. It is not easy to kill the spirit of stigma but with time through continual effort then it becomes easy to do away with it. A problem will not be solved unless it starts with you as an individual. Do not be quiet about stigma (Lyimo et al., 2014). If we keep quiet about stigma yet it directly or indirectly affects us then in the coming future it will be an epidemic and kill progress in the lives of people and the community at large. It is the responsibility of every one of us to make sure that you contribute positively to the problem of stigma that the community is facing.

References

Earnshaw, V. A., Bogart, L. M., Dovidio, J. F., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Stigma and racial/ethnic HIV disparities: moving toward resilience.

Katz, I. (2014). Stigma: A social psychological analysis. Psychology Press.

Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. (2014). Stigma power. Social Science & Medicine, 103, 24-32.

Lyimo, R. A., Stutterheim, S. E., Hospers, H. J., de Glee, T., van der Ven, A., & de Bruin, M. (2014). Stigma, disclosure, coping, and medication adherence among people living with HIV/AIDS in Northern Tanzania. AIDS patient care and STDs, 28(2), 98-105.

Page, R. M. (2015). Stigma. Psychology Press.

Rueda, S., Mitra, S., Chen, S., Gogolishvili, D., Globerman, J., Chambers, L., ... & Rourke, S. B. (2016). Examining the associations between HIV-related stigma and health outcomes in people living with HIV/AIDS: a series of meta-analyses. BMJ open, 6(7), e011453.