Social Representations of Mental Health in Young Men and Women from a Semi-Urban Locality in Aguascalientes, Mexico Representaciones sociales de la salud mental en hombres y mujeres jóvenes de una localidad semiurbana de Aguascalientes, México

Abstract

Studies of social representations of mental health have contributed to the production of knowledge to strengthen public mental health services with an emphasis on community interventions and under movements of deinstitutionalization and decentralization. The objective of this study was to analyze the social representations of mental health of young men and women from a semi-urban town in Aguascalientes, Mexico. 51 young people (65% men) between 18 and 32 years of age participated, and the instrument of free lists, were applied. An analysis was applied from a structural perspective to identify the central core and peripheral elements by gender. The central core in both populations includes terms that belong to the category of “imperturbability”, with terms such as “well-being”, “stability” and “peace”. However, differences were identified in the peripheral and contrasting elements, women orient their representation with terms from a category of services such as “therapy” and “psychology”. In men, terms with a defensive function towards mental health services are identified, using the stigmatized representation of “madness” and “sane”, as well as terms oriented to a regulatory function with negative attributes such as “loneliness” and “sadness”. In men, stigmatized representations constitute an important barrier to access to mental health services. In women, a more unified representation is identified towards scientific knowledge and an identification as active agents in the care of their mental health.