WEEK ONE ASSIGNMENT SOCW 6090 1
Diagnosis: The Burden of Stigma in Help Seeking
Walden University
In Corrigan’s model (Corrigan, et al., 2000), the first stage is an individual with a mental
disorder or condition is mindfulness of community shame about their disorder (Awareness). This
individual may then decide that these undesirable public received ideas are factual about the
group (Agreement). Consequently, the individual corresponds that these stereotypes relate to
their own self (Application). This may precede to harm, to considerable reductions in self-
confidence and self-efficacy (Harm).
Delle explained in his own words that after being asked by his doctor if he would like to
speak with a mental health professional regarding his issues with stress and anxiety, that he felt a
sense of shame and weight of stigma (TED Conferences, LLC (Producer), 2017). Delle’s
encounter trails the Corrigan’s model. The fact the he states that he shook his head violently in
protest shows that he understood the public shame of seeking mental health help (Awareness).
Delle also goes on to say that growing up in West Africa, when society used the expression
"mental," what came to his thought was a deranged individual, unkempt hair, staggering around
in public unclothed (Agreement). When Delle attended graduate school, he did not to speak to
anyone when faced with his own anxiety despite supporting undergraduates with their mental
health challenges. He stated that his fear of being seen as the “madman” was deep (Application).
He did not speak of losing or lowering of his self-esteem, which leads me to believe that he did
not reach the Harm stage.
Delle talks about the stigma of being judged and discriminated from the public regarding
mental illness. These types of stigmas are known as external and internal stigma. Delle’s stigma
