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Original papers: Fionnuala Kelly, Julianne Reidy, and Gregory Swanwick What’s in a name? Views on psychiatric services for older people Psychiatr Bull 2006; 30: 97-100 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Will renaming the illness decrease the stigma?

Rajeev Krishnadas   (20 April 2006)

Will renaming the illness decrease the stigma? 20 April 2006
Rajeev Krishnadas, Senior House Officer, Old age Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead NE10 9SB Nil Send letter to journal: Re: Will renaming the illness decrease the stigma? rajeev.krishnadas{at}gmail.com Rajeev Krishnadas	Dear Sir, I read with interest, the article titled, “What’s in a name? Views on psychiatric services for older people” Psychiatr Bull 2006; 30: 97-100. Authors Kelly et al, very rightly state that the negative conceptualisations that people have of the mentally ill could be changed over time. They also state that technical terms used to describe mental illness may become derogatory with time. At this point in time, as a trainee, there are a lot of questions which pop into my mind, which I thought I should share with you. The trend of renaming mental illnesses and services is now very common. This has gone to such an extent that we don’t call our patients, “patients” anymore. They are called “service users”. By giving into this trend of renaming mental illnesses and services, are we trying to suggest that patients should be ashamed of being called patients? That they should not accept the reality of mental illness? It sounds almost as if we ourselves (mental health and medical professionals) are admitting that it is wrong to have a mental illness. It almost sounds as if we are ashamed to call them patients. In such a context, is renaming an illness going to reduce the stigma attached to it? As time goes on, wouldn’t the new name acquire its own stigma? I am quite sure the term “user” in “service user” would be considered inappropriate with time. Are we aiming for a temporary symptom relief, or for eradication of stigma? Given this approach, where will we go once we have exhausted our vocabulary of all the possible terms? By doing this, are we trying to allay the patient’s anxiety, or are we trying to ally our own? Since we don’t have much time to spend with our patients, are we trying to find a short cut to psychoeducating (some people consider psycho and education as pejorative) our patients and public? Rajeev Krishnadas Senior House Officer Qld age Psychiatry Queen Elizabeth Hospital Gateshead NE10 9SB