Representaciones sociales de los términos salud mental y enfermedad mental en una institución de educación superior en Colombia Representaciones sociales de los términos salud mental y enfermedad mental en una institución de educación superior en Colombia

Abstract

This article shows the results of the research aimed at knowing the social representations about the terms mental health and mental illness of an educational community belonging to a Higher Education Institution (IES) in Colombia. The interest to develop this study arises from the concern about the ways in which the aforementioned terms are conceived and how these conceptions can become erroneous to the point of generating preconceptions and stigmas, especially in relation to the person with a mental disorder or illness. The study was qualitative with a phenomenological design, the population corresponded to 5 professors, 5 students, and 4 administrative workers. As techniques for the collection of information, a semi-structured interview and a focus group were used. Among the most outstanding results, it is evident that everything related to the term mental health is identified with expressions that account for a state of well-being at the physical, mental and emotional level, on the contrary, to define mental illness there is no evidence of a consensus of expressions such as the first term, however, it is possible to detect a conception framed in affectation and imbalance. Regarding the way in which the participants perceive that other people think or refer to someone with a mental illness, there are 3 main categories: "conception of insanity", "nonexistence" and "rejection", giving an account of the need to psychoeducate to the community around the terms studied here with a view to achieving changes in the representations found.