The purpose of this study is to explore the mental health stigmas the adolescents in Jamaica experience as a result of mental illness and how it affects seeking treatment. According to Gabra et al. (2020) analysis on the effect of knowledge, attitude of the families and caregivers of mentally sick individuals and how it affects the treatment-seeking, there is no significant work that has been done on how the stigma affects mental health help-seeking among the adolescents in Jamaica. Mental illness has been an issue of concern, with the emphasis being laid on drugs' effect on mental health. For example, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports that there is no direct association between Marijuana use and old-age mental illness because most patients were found to have the AKT1 gene, whose function is coding for an enzyme that effects the signaling of dopamine in the striatum, are at a higher risk of developing mental illness (NIDA, 2020). This research emphasized on the relationship between the use of marijuana and psychosis. In this case, those people who use marijuana have a high likelihood of developing psychosis as compared to those who do not use it at all. Therefore, for the adolescents, in their quest for seeking treatment, it is important that they forego use of marijuana habits.
As mental health continues to be one of the major health concerns worldwide, Jamaica is not an exception. According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), 3% of the Jamaican population has cognitive health conditions like depression, anxiety, and stress, among others (GBD, 2017). This has been highly contributed to by the mental health stigma experienced by adolescents. GBD reported that there was a serious mental health crisis among Jamaican adolescents because of inadequate specialists. This has made mental health an issue since the people responsible for curbing the problem have not stepped up in any way. Also, there have been questions on whether information technology, through the internet, has been of any use to the adolescents bearing in mind that society holds a negative attitude towards mental health problems as a result of inadequate knowledge (Gabra et al., 2020). From the use of information technology, many youths tend to use it in carrying out other activities such as playing video games and socializing instead of using it to find solutions to mental health stigma. Also, through it, the youths tend to praise the use of marijuana which contributes to the occurrence of the AKT1 gene. This results in increased mental illnesses which depress and stress individuals leading to low productivity or deaths. As a result, there is a need that health professionals step up. Otherwise, there will be increased cases which will result in society’s low productivity at large.
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Purpose Statement
The objective of this cross-sectional study is exploring the relationship betwixt stigma and mental health treatment seeking among Jamaican adolescents. This study's data will be conducted through interviews, questionnaires, and phone calls for the adolescents who will find it hard facing the interviewer. This project will focus on 300 mentally-ill adolescents and their families/caregivers. The participants will be selected from different parts of Jamaica to get a correct picture of the adolescents in the whole country. The hypothesis of the study is that the adolescents whose parents/caregivers hold a negative attitude towards mental health illness, such as associating it with drug abuse, are less likely to seek medical treatment as opposed to those whose parents have knowledge of mental illnesses. Another Hypothesis is that with technological advancement, most adolescents opt to seek help from the internet for fear of being judged by parents, religious leaders, and society at large.
The results obtained from this study will help the healthcare givers to understand where the adolescents seek help most and enrich the internet with more information about mental illness. The information will also create awareness to the public on the importance of supporting mentally-ill adolescents instead of judging them. It will shed light on the families and caregivers of mentally ill adolescents on the need to understand the various causes of mental illness. According to Gabra et al. (2020), there is a need to provide information to the public to change their attitudes towards mental illnesses. The knowledge will change their attitude, thus stop stigmatization to mentally-ill patients.
References
Gabra, R., Ebrahim, O., Osman, D., & Al-Attar, G. (2020). Knowledge, attitude and health-seeking behavior among family caregivers of mentally ill patients at Assiut University Hospitals: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Middle East Psychiatry, 27 (10):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-020-0015-6
Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (GBD 2017) Reference Life Table. Seattle, United States of America : Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Doi: https://doi.org/10.6069/PSS7-FB75
Mundle, T. (2018). Mental health crisis among Jamaican children. Jamaica Observer . Retrieved from http://amp.jamaicaobserver.com/news/mental-health-crisis-among-jamaican-children on June, 29, 2018.
NIDA, 2020, My 28. Is there a link between Marijuana use and psychiatric disorders? Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/there-link-between-marijuana-use-psychiatric-disorders on November 30, 2020
