Work, Identity, and Stigma Management in an Italian Mental Health Community:
Sara M. Bergstresser
Abstract
When mental illness prevents an individual from working, the economic burden is obvious, but little attention has been paid to the accompanying loss of social identity. This paper addresses the meanings of work and unemployment for participants in an Italian community mental health center, and it evaluates the role of work therapy in an agricultural setting as a way to regain some social aspects of work or professional identity. The study is based on over a year of anthropological fieldwork in the Province of Bergamo, Northern Italy, conducted to investigate the relationship between community-based mental health care, social stigma of mental illness, and the social sphere in everyday life. The social position of the individual at the time of job loss is significant in his or her professional expectations while in the community center. Those who had previously worked in manual or farming capacities found this type of work therapy to be a helpful means of social participation. On the other hand, expectations based on educational, social, and economic hierarchies persist for individuals within mental health communities. For those individuals with high education, manual labor violated professional expectations, and the reality of their employability provided a conflict between social participation and perceived status group. The stigma of unemployment is also addressed in relation to political identity and desire for worker status.