A Study On The Social Identity Of Mental Patients

China's social transformation makes contemporary Chinese burden great living pressure,which leads to the increasing trend of phychological illness and mental disorder.However,the living condition of a large number of mental patients is still unknown by most people.When an ordinary person's mind disorders,the"mental patient"label is given to him.As a social identity,the label shows his unpleasing shameful features,and influences his living situation.Based on the explanation of Goffman's stigma theory, Mead's ego theory ,Gidden's modernity theory and the empirical research of the paper's author, this paper studies the social identity of the marginalized mental patients, makes their identity plight and situation as this paper's main clue, and mainly describes the"mental patient"social identity's costs."Mental disorder",an acquired social identity ,happens in a certain period of life course for many causes.The starting point of"mental patient"social identity concerns its acquisition ,which should be studied from vertical angle of view.By comparison of main degree among the social, physiological, psychological and meteorological factors, the most important factor is put forward. In the situation of asylum and the whole social circumstances,the mental patients'identity causes great torture. Mental patients suffer great physical torture under many kinds of medical treatments and their side effects. Furthermore, they suffer more severe mental torture from other people's view about the stigmatised identity.Their study,work and marital life are also destroyed and endangered. Patients'family members burden stigma's shame, spiritual and economical pressure.By use of the interviewing,observing and documentary methods,the author made a research among 30 schizophrenia patients in an asylum,studing their social identity.The research's result shows that their economical condition is generally awful,about 1/5 patients of them lose social value completely,and most of them live in very awkward and hard conditions.Avoiding and solving the problem of mental patients need family,school ,community and other else social forces,but the improvement of individual self's attitude and character is the key way to solve the problem.When mental unhealth more and more influences people nowadays, anlysizing mental illness problem benefits that people know more about this marginalized group's awkward situation.This paper has active realistic significance for it tries to find out the ways to solve ourselves'mental problem and make people pay more attention to the mental health.