Addressing Stigma Relating to Mental Illness in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Mental health disorders (especially psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia) constitute the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from all non-communicable diseases (1). These disorders relate to severe social, educational and occupational impairment, physical illness, and premature mortality (2). Approximately, three-quarters of the burden of mental illness comes from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (3). Governments from LMICs spend the lowest percentages on mental health worldwide (4). Most of these countries model their mental health systems based on care that is primarily delivered through psychiatric institutions. Hence, the implementation of community mental health models has been extremely difficult, given that attaining the additional funds required to establish outpatient services has frequently not been available in these countries. Additionally, human resources are limited and inequitably distributed. This explains why in LMICs more than 75% of people that require mental health care do not receive any kind of intervention (5). This statistic refers to the “treatment gap”: the proportion of people who need but do not receive care. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the treatment gap for serious mental disorders is 35–50% in developed countries and 76–90% in LMICs (6). Stigma comprises a major problem related to help seeking in people with mental health difficulties in developing countries. Stigmatized individuals may anticipate devaluation and discrimination from others, leading them to adopt harmful coping mechanisms such as secrecy or withdrawal (7). Studies conducted in LMIC such as Ethiopia and India have reported this tendency, whereby consumers prefer to not disclose their problems or symptoms with health professionals or even with their own relatives (8). Such harmful coping strategies further obstruct effective treatment use. Several authors have recommended the implementation of national public education campaigns and local interventions to increase mental health literacy to reduce discrimination in these countries (9).