New York : Even subtle differences in how one refers to people with mental illness can affect their attitudes towards such people, says a study, according to IANS.
According to the researchers, individuals showed less tolerance toward people who were called to as “the mentally ill” when compared to those referred to as “people with mental illness”.
For example, participants were more likely to agree with the statement “the mentally ill should be isolated from the community” than the almost identical statement “people with mental illnesses should be isolated from the community.”
“The language we use has real effects on our levels of tolerance for people with mental illness,” said Darcy Haag Granello, professor at Ohio State University. “Everyone – including the media, policymakers and the general public – need to change how they refer to people with mental illness,” he added.
The push to change how society refers to people with mental illness began in the 1990s when several professional publications proposed the use of what they called “person-first” language when talking about people with disabilities or chronic conditions.
Person-first language is a way to honour the personhood of an individual by separating their identity from any disability or diagnosis he or she might have.
