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Conceptualizing Stigma and Barriers to Care 63
they asked me, “What should we do” I said, “You know what To me the answer
is clear. Put your money on the Friendster video. It is very powerful.” I think we can
do these evaluations now pretty simply. Yes, they are not free but they are pretty
cost effective compared to the $250,000 it costs to make a PSA campaign. To show
the PSA enough to make it effective would cost about $10 million, and that is where
we do not have the societal support. I am not even sure if we had the support that
television is the right median. I am not saying PSA campaigns should not be used.
I just think the traditional PSA campaign evaluated through focus groups and put
on television has to be rethought.
DR. BELL: I am told that the frontal lobes of the brain do not develop until age
26, so in my world children are all gasoline and no brakes. We might want to think
about how to influence stigma in young children as opposed to older individuals.
Another issue is that when Dr. Satcher was doing his mental health report and
asked people about stigma, most people said, “You know I really do not care whether
it is biologic or whatever it is. I am concerned about the unpredictability of people.”
We need to figure out how to deal with that because that is what scares people.
DR. PESCOSOLIDO: First, I agree that we should target the kids, and target
a general idea of ‘difference’ rather than just mental health problems. I take from
that a relatively old piece of sociology, which showed that during the Vietnam War
it was not that the hawks changed their mind in Congress. We voted them out and
we voted the doves in. I think the analogy, although not very kind to American
society, is focused on the kids. We need to focus on the children regarding both their
own mental health issues, because they are more open at that point, and on stigma
towards anyone with mental health problems. I agree that unpredictability is the
big issue, but I do not have an answer for that.
DR. LINK: That coheres with the most powerful anti-stigma tool: contact.
Contact can help with the unpredictability part.