- Title Pages
- Series Foreword
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- I Foundational Questions
- 1 Contested Boundaries: Psychiatry, Disease, and Diagnosis
- 2 Moot Questions in Psychiatric Ethics
- 3 The Ethics of Psychotherapy
- 4 Character Virtues in Psychiatric Practice
- II Capacity, Coercion, and Consent
- 5 Psychiatric Advance Directives and the Treatment of Committed Patients
- 6 Denying Autonomy in Order to Create It: The Paradox of Forcing Treatment upon Addicts
- 7 End-Stage Anorexia: Criteria for Competence to Refuse Treatment
- 8 “Personality Disorder” and Capacity to Make Treatment Decisions
- III Violence, Trauma, and Treatment
- 9 Sanctity of Human Life in War: Ethics and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- 10 The Experience of Violent Injury for Young African American Men: The Meaning of Being a “Sucker”
- 11 The Psychological Impact of Rape Victims’ Experiences with the Legal, Medical, and Mental Health Systems
- IV Addiction
- 12 Addiction as Accomplishment: The Discursive Construction of Disease
- 13 The Ethics of Addiction
- 14 Myths about the Treatment of Addiction
- 15 Ethical Considerations in Caring for People Living with Addictions
- V Mental Illness and the Courts
- 16 Confidentiality and the Prediction of Dangerousness in Psychiatry
- 17 Madness versus Badness: The Ethical Tension between the Recovery Movement and Forensic Psychiatry
- 18 Ethical Considerations of Multiple Roles in Forensic Services
- 19 Watch Your Language: A Review of the Use of Stigmatizing Language by Canadian Judges
- VI Therapeutic Boundaries
- 20 Boundary Violation Ethics: Some Conceptual Clarifications
- 21 The Price of a Gift: An Approach to Receiving Gifts from Patients in Psychiatric Practice
- 22 How Certain Boundaries and Ethics Diminish Therapeutic Effectiveness
- 23 Boundary Issues in Social Work: Managing Dual Relationships
- 24 Patient-Targeted Googling: The Ethics of Searching Online for Patient Information
- 25 Professional Boundaries in the Era of the Internet
- Contributors
- Permissions and Credits
- Index
Watch Your Language: A Review of the Use of Stigmatizing Language by Canadian Judges
Watch Your Language: A Review of the Use of Stigmatizing Language by Canadian Judges
- Chapter:
- (p.267) 19 Watch Your Language: A Review of the Use of Stigmatizing Language by Canadian Judges
- Source:
- Applied Ethics in Mental Health Care
- Author(s):
Michelle Black
Jocelyn Downie
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
Despite ongoing advances in understanding the causes and prevalence of mental health issues, stigmatizing language is still often directed at people who have mental illness. Such language is regularly used by parties, such as the media, who have great influence on public opinion and attitudes. Since the decisions from Canadian courtrooms can also have a strong impact on societal views, we asked whether judges use stigmatizing language in their decisions. To answer this question, we conducted a qualitative study by searching through modern Canadian case law using search terms that were indicative of stigmatizing language. We found that, although judges generally use respectful language, there are still many instances where judges unnecessarily choose words and terms that are stigmatizing towards people with mental illness. We conclude that, to help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, judges should be more careful with their language.
Keywords: Stigma, Mental Illness, Language
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- Title Pages
- Series Foreword
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- I Foundational Questions
- 1 Contested Boundaries: Psychiatry, Disease, and Diagnosis
- 2 Moot Questions in Psychiatric Ethics
- 3 The Ethics of Psychotherapy
- 4 Character Virtues in Psychiatric Practice
- II Capacity, Coercion, and Consent
- 5 Psychiatric Advance Directives and the Treatment of Committed Patients
- 6 Denying Autonomy in Order to Create It: The Paradox of Forcing Treatment upon Addicts
- 7 End-Stage Anorexia: Criteria for Competence to Refuse Treatment
- 8 “Personality Disorder” and Capacity to Make Treatment Decisions
- III Violence, Trauma, and Treatment
- 9 Sanctity of Human Life in War: Ethics and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- 10 The Experience of Violent Injury for Young African American Men: The Meaning of Being a “Sucker”
- 11 The Psychological Impact of Rape Victims’ Experiences with the Legal, Medical, and Mental Health Systems
- IV Addiction
- 12 Addiction as Accomplishment: The Discursive Construction of Disease
- 13 The Ethics of Addiction
- 14 Myths about the Treatment of Addiction
- 15 Ethical Considerations in Caring for People Living with Addictions
- V Mental Illness and the Courts
- 16 Confidentiality and the Prediction of Dangerousness in Psychiatry
- 17 Madness versus Badness: The Ethical Tension between the Recovery Movement and Forensic Psychiatry
- 18 Ethical Considerations of Multiple Roles in Forensic Services
- 19 Watch Your Language: A Review of the Use of Stigmatizing Language by Canadian Judges
- VI Therapeutic Boundaries
- 20 Boundary Violation Ethics: Some Conceptual Clarifications
- 21 The Price of a Gift: An Approach to Receiving Gifts from Patients in Psychiatric Practice
- 22 How Certain Boundaries and Ethics Diminish Therapeutic Effectiveness
- 23 Boundary Issues in Social Work: Managing Dual Relationships
- 24 Patient-Targeted Googling: The Ethics of Searching Online for Patient Information
- 25 Professional Boundaries in the Era of the Internet
- Contributors
- Permissions and Credits
- Index
