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This paper explores issues surrounding the under‐representation of people from the Gujarati community in mental health statistics and services in the UK and asks why people from the Gujarati communities are less likely to seek assistance for mental health problems. It is well known that members of the African‐Caribbean community are over‐represented in mental health statistics, and this is attributed to factors such as racial discrimination, social adversity and stress of migration. However, members of the Gujarati community have also been exposed to these hardships, but are not similarly represented in the mental health statistics. The paper explores a selection of the key literature. Two questions are considered: first, whether this group genuinely has very good mental health (and if so why); and second, whether there are any factors that hold members of this community back from seeking help.

Our objective was to compare the physical health status of adult prisoners with and without a mental illness. Mental illness was diagnosed in a sample of 557 Australian prisoners using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Physical health measures included self‐reported chronic health conditions, recent health complaints and symptoms, self‐assessed health using the Short‐Form 36 Health Survey (SF‐36), and markers of infectious diseases known to be highly prevalent among prisoner populations (hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C). Men and women with a mental illness had lower scores on the SF‐36 compared with those without a mental illness indicating poor overall health. Adjusting for age and sex, a diagnosis of any mental illness (symptoms of psychosis, anxiety or affective disorder) was positively associated with a history of head injury, back problems, asthma, peptic ulcers, cancer, and epilepsy/seizures. There was a significant association between post traumatic stress disorder and asthma, a history of head injury, peptic ulcers, and cancer. There was no significant difference in the proportion of current tobacco smokers in the mentally ill and nonmentally ill groups (81% vs. 77%, p = 0.33). However, those with a mental illness were less likely than those with no diagnosis to exercise in the past 4 weeks (79% vs. 89%, p = 0.002). Mentally ill prisoners also have significant physical co‐morbidity compared with the non‐mentally ill. These findings suggest that those providing mental health services to prisoners should adopt a holistic approach embracing both mental and physical health.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a time trend in newspaper reporting of mental illness in Japan between 1987 and 2014.

Four high-circulation national newspapers (the Yomiuri newspaper, the Asahi newspaper, the Mainichi newspaper and the Nikkei Newspaper) were selected for analysis. Articles were analysed using qualitative content analysis (n=448).

Whilst articles concerning the dangerousness of those with mental illness occupied a high proportion of coverage between 1987 and 2014, an overall shift is apparent whereby there is now more reporting of mental illness in relation to stress than in relation to dangerousness, particularly for depression. In contrast, schizophrenia was often reported in the context of violent crime. Information on the treatment, symptoms and prevalence of mental illness was rarely reported.

While the nature of newspaper coverage of mental illness has been changing, there still is over-representation of dangerousness of mental illness, particularly of schizophrenia. For improving the public’s images of mental illness, it is hoped to reduce the proportion of reporting about dangerousness and to increase the proportion of reporting about treatment, symptoms and prevalence of mental illness and personal stories of those affected.

The present study is the first to examine changes in Japanese newspaper coverage over time and at the variation in reporting among diagnoses.

Australian paramedics regularly encounter patients experiencing mental illness. However, some paramedics hold negative attitudes towards the use of emergency services in providing care for these patients. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the mental health literacy (MHL) of Australian paramedic students, and the training and experiential factors associated with MHL.

A cross-sectional online survey was delivered to paramedic students across Australia. A total of 94 paramedic students completed the survey examining MHL, mental health first aid (MHFA) intentions, confidence in providing help, personal and perceived stigma and willingness to interact with a person experiencing mental illness.

Participants generally had poor MHFA intentions in spite of good recognition of mental health disorders and good knowledge about mental health. Participants also demonstrated low stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness; however, they expressed a lack of willingness to interact with a person experiencing mental illness.

Our findings propose a combination of work-based experience and specific MHFA training may be beneficial to paramedic students to improve care for patients experiencing mental illness.

Work-life challenges experienced by employees navigating pregnancy, maternity, and parenting young children are well documented in the literature. Correspondingly, work-life balance policies and provisions aimed at supporting affected staff are well established in many modern organizations. Within this agenda however, complications within maternity journeys, and specifically the intersection with mental health has been neglected. In this chapter, we consider the work-life issues associated with perinatal (pregnancy and post-birth) mental illness. After introducing perinatal mental illness, and its impact on individuals and families, we consider the two-way relationship between illness and work: how employment factors influence the development of perinatal mental illness and recovery trajectories, with implications for family life; and how such illnesses impact work and employment. We offer key insights from our empirical research on this topic in the context of UK policing, highlighting challenges linked to the nature of police work and organization culture, and issues that are more broadly applicable to how maternity and mental illness are treated in the workplace. The chapter offers recommendations for people management practice aimed at reducing or mitigating occupational factors that exacerbate illness and maximizing those facilitating recovery in the perinatal period and beyond, thus advancing work-life inclusion.

While deinstitutionalization has changed how and where those with serious mental illness receive mental health treatment, the high rate of homelessness among those with mental illness, the number of mentally ill incarcerated, and the general inadequacy and underfunded nature of public psychiatric resources suggest an inadequate social reaction to their needs. While United States (US) policies have appeared to deemphasize long-term confinement in hospitals, the author contends that various ideologies maintain a process of social control whereby those with serious mental illness continue to be minimized and disempowered within American society.

The author presents three different ideologies for examination: the “otherness” of mental illness, stigma and social exclusion, and perspectives of dangerousness. These ideologies are hypothesized to limit the social capital and power of those with serious mental illness. Considering Antonio Gramsci’s definition of hegemony and “common sense,” this chapter urges a challenge to these hardened ideologies if those with serious mental illness are to have greater inclusion in US society.

This chapter responds to calls to “reclaim” the work of Erving Goffman, and specifically his conceptualization of stigma, arguing that Goffman’s ideas can inform a critical social theory of mental illness in sport. The analysis pays particular attention to the challenges to social identity for those experiencing mental illness stigma, the role of personal identity in negotiating mental illness stigma, and strategies for stigma reduction including the adoption of stigma symbols.

The first section of the chapter revisits the concept of stigma, before proceeding to relate this to mental illness stigma as applied to sport. The second section overviews several high-profile cases of mental illness stigma of elite athletes, before presenting some examples of campaigns to address the perceived stigma related to mental health issues in sport.

The chapter proposes that Goffman’s work maintains relevance when related to social contexts other than those directly observed by him, and that the conceptualization of stigma helps understanding of, and challenges to, mental illness stigma in sport.

While sport continues to be proposed as an arena for positive character development, analysis informed by the work of Erving Goffman demonstrates that the culture of sport provides a context within which athletes experiencing mental health issues may be stigmatized. This, in turn, undermines the potential for them to secure the health care that they need, with participation and performance often taking precedence over well-being, even in the campaigns ostensibly designed to address mental illness stigma.

This chapter outlines the paucity of media research attending to mental health and mental illness in sport. As such, the purpose of this chapter is to encourage critical reflection and further research on the mass mediation of mental illness in sport.

In the first part of the chapter, we review the extensive literature addressing the mass mediation of mental illness and mental health in order to provide key reference points for future scholarship. We then suggest to potential avenues for sociological study of this topic: Talcott Parson’s sick role and Guy Debord’s spectacle.

The authors find that the notion of the sick role provides insight into the assumptions underpinning athlete disclosure of mental illness as well as encouragement of help seeking behavior in relation to mental illness specifically. From a broader perspective on mental health, the authors identify a central challenge of the spectacular presentation of mental health and well-being and the lived experience.

The central limitation of the field currently is the dearth of research. Similarly, in providing a broad overview of key considerations, this chapter does not undertake primary media analysis of mental illness in sport. Nonetheless, the authors outline key considerations and lines of inquiry for the field.

This study aims to assess the knowledge and attitudes toward recovering citizenship (RC)/5 Rs and mental illness of people aged ≥18 years in Hong Kong using a telephone survey approach.

A questionnaire comprised the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS), Short Form-Community Attitudes Toward Mental Illness (SF-CAMI) and questions on attitudes toward RC/5 Rs, was administered on the phone.

A total of 1,009 respondents completed the telephone survey. A high mean score of MAKS (4.37 ± 1.08) was found with 68%–94% answering the knowledge items correctly. The mean score of SF-CAMI was 46.50 ± 8.74 with the most positive attitude toward fear and exclusion. Approximately half had heard about a similar concept of RC and 79%–94.3% agreed with people in recovery to possess the 5 Rs. Those with greater knowledge or more positive toward mental illness, or knowing someone in recovery were more supportive toward 5 Rs. Those aged 18–44 years, attained a post-secondary education, were employed, and received a monthly income of US$3,861–6,434 were significantly more positive toward 5 Rs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study assessing the views of RC of people in the community. The sample had a good knowledge of mental illness but recognition of recovery from mental illness and a sympathetic view toward people in recovery can be further improved. Besides promotion programs, dissemination of the concept of RC and having people in recovery take up valued roles in the community could potentially facilitate the acceptance of social inclusion and acceptance in the community.

Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study aims to examine which job demands individuals with diagnosed mental illness perceive to be most challenging as they navigate the workplace, why this is the case and which resources individuals tend to mobilize to meet these demands.

The authors draw on 257 qualitative surveys filled out by individuals with mental illness in various parts of the world.

The findings show that job demands that are common in today's workplace such as a high workload and a stressful environment are considered challenging by individuals with mental illness. Further, the authors show that this is the result of the ideal worker norm consisting of the need to be a steady performer that is confident, resilient and social with which the performer cannot comply on the one hand and the particularities of this population, such as performers' self-perceived low self-esteem, sensitivity to stress, fluctuating symptoms and difficulties with the social aspects of organizational life on the other hand.

The study points to the unique challenges of individuals with mental illness in the workplace and highlights the role human resource management (HRM) can play in providing support to allow this population to meet the demands of one's job more easily and thrive at work.