Californians With Mental Health Issues Report Discrimination, Stigma

A new study by the RAND Corporation finds that nearly 9 in 10 Californians who reported having a mental health problem in the past 12 months said they had experienced discrimination because of it.

Most often, respondents reported discrimination in intimate social relationships. But more than 40 percent also reported “high levels of discrimination at school, in the workplace, and from health care providers and law enforcement officials,” the study said,

The study is based on responses to the 2014 California Well-Being Survey. Researchers surveyed 1,066 people who had previously reported mild to serious psychological distress.

Other findings:

• 81 percent of respondents who had previously suffered a mild to moderate or serious level of psychological distress said the public discriminates against mental illness.
• Just 41 percent said that people are “caring and sympathetic” to people with mental illness.
• More than two in three said they would definitely or probably hide a mental health problem from coworkers or classmates.
• More than one in three said they would hide a problem from family or friends

"The lack of safety or comfort with disclosure raises concerns about the degree to which individuals are able to obtain sufficient support in school or in the workplace, as well as from those with whom they may be closest,” the study said.

Still, just 20 percent of respondents said they might delay treatment for fear of others finding out about a mental health problem. And 88 percent had sought treatment at some point.

In addition, about 70 percent of those surveyed said that they are satisfied with life.

The survey was administered in English and Spanish.

The study said that previous findings have shown “a large majority of individuals with mental health problems eventually obtain treatment but with significant delays to first contact.” It said delaying treatment is a pervasive problem in the country as a whole, where those suffering can wait years or even decades to get help.

RAND completed the study as part of an evaluation of the California Mental Health Services  Authority's prevention and early intervention programs, designed to improve mental health outcomes.

CalMHSA Executive Director Wayne Clark says the group is making some headway into changing attitudes about mental health, with a broad-based statewide campaign. But with one Californian taking his or her own life nearly every two hours, Clark says making mental illness as easy to discuss as a broken arm will still be a project for the long haul.

"It's going to take that kind of longer-term investment to change how people deal with emotional issues in their families, how they deal with them in their neighborhoods and in their schools and in their workplace," he said.

Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.