The stigma of psychosis can isolate carers and make them more reluctant to access crucial support, especially in migrant communities.

Research by Professor Terence McCann from Victoria University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery explored how caregivers of young people with a first episode of psychosis in 20 Melbourne families coped with the stigma of mental illness.

“For relatives and caregivers of people with mental illness, stigma affects many aspects of their already burdened lives, with friends avoiding not only the person who is ill but also the person’s caregivers,” Professor McCann said.

The study found some carers, particularly those from migrant backgrounds, chose secrecy and isolation rather than face the rejection, embarrassment or loss of status they feared in the community.

“Some caregivers simply shut themselves off from others,” Professor McCann said.

He said this approach could have troubling repercussions.

“Secrecy precludes the caregiver and the young person from receiving crucial support from others, it reinforces their social isolation and alienation from friends and neighbours, and for caregivers in particular, it heightens their overall burden of care,” he said. “Secrecy may also mean the caregiver is more reluctant to access timely care for the young person.”

He said the secretive approach to mental illness among migrants was consistent with previous research, by Ryder and colleagues in 2000, in which Chinese-Canadian caregivers were more secretive about psychosis than European-Canadian caregivers. [continue reading…]