Resolving mental illness stigma: Should we seek normalcy or solidarity?

SummaryTwo approaches have emerged to deal with the stigma of mental illness: normalcy, where people with mental illness are framed as ‘just like everyone else’; and solidarity, where the public agrees to stand with those with mental illness regardless of their symptoms. Pros and cons of each approach are considered.

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Emotional reactions to people with mental illness

Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale ◽

10.1017/s1121189x00001573 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 26-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Matthias C. Angermeyer ◽

Anita Holzinger ◽

Herbert Matschinger

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Mental Disorder ◽

Social Distance ◽

Emotional Response ◽

Substantial Effect ◽

Emotional Reactions ◽

The Public ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽

Different Cultures

Aims– Based on findings from population surveys, we provide an overview of the public's emotional reactions to people with mental illness.Methods– A literature search for populations studies using measures of emotional response to people with mental illness was carried out. In addition, data on the public's emotional reactions, originating from representative surveys conducted in Germany in the years 1990, 1993 and 2001, were analysed.Results– Positive emotional reactions to people with mental illness are most prevalent, followed by fear and anger. This pattern appears relatively stable across different cultures. In recent years, the emotional response of the public remained unchanged or even deteriorated. The public seems to react quite differently to people with different mental disorders. Emotional reactions have a substantial effect on the desire for social distance. The association between familiarity with mental disorder and the desire for social distance is to a considerable extent mediated through emotions.Conclusions– The public's emotional reactions to people with mental disorder are relatively under-researched. More research may help better understand the complexities of the stigma surrounding mental illness. Interventions aimed at reducing the stigma of mental illness may benefit from paying more attention to emotions.

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The Public Stigma of Mental Illness

Journal of Health and Social Behavior ◽

10.1177/0022146512471197 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 1-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 139

Author(s):

Bernice A. Pescosolido

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Critical Role ◽

Social Science Research ◽

Science Research ◽

Labeling Theory ◽

Mental Illness Stigma ◽

Public Stigma ◽

The Public ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽

Prejudice And Discrimination

By the 1990s, sociology faced a frustrating paradox. Classic work on mental illness stigma and labeling theory reinforced that the “mark” of mental illness created prejudice and discrimination for individuals and family members. Yet that foundation, coupled with deinstitutionalization of mental health care, produced contradictory responses. Claims that stigma was dissipating were made, while others argued that intervention efforts were needed to reduce stigma. While signaling the critical role of theory-based research in establishing the pervasive effects of stigma, both claims directed resources away from social science research. Yet the contemporary scientific foundation underlying both claims was weak. A reply came in a resurgence of research directed toward mental illness stigma nationally and internationally, bringing together researchers from different disciplines for the first time. I report on the general population’s attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral dispositions that targeted public stigma and implications for the next decade of research and intervention efforts.

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Comparing Mental Illness Stigma among Nurses in Psychiatric and Non-Psychiatric Wards in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Acta Facultatis Medicae Naissensis ◽

10.1515/afmnai-2017-0002 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 13-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Hossein Ebrahimi ◽

Mohammad Asghari Jafarabadi ◽

Hossein Namdar Areshtanab ◽

Maryam Pourabbas ◽

Ahmad Dehghan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Low Income ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Self Report ◽

Psychiatric Nurses ◽

Mental Illness Stigma ◽

Medical Sciences ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽

Medium Level

Summary Stigma can complicate people’s mental health problems by affecting different sides of personal life, increasing negative attitudes, causing discriminatory behavior towards them, and reducing the chances of recovery and returning to normal life. This research aims to compare the stigma of mental illness among nurses working in psychiatric and non-psychiatric wards in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. A total of 240 nurses participated in this descriptive and analytic study. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) Scale, which is a 40-item self-report questionnaire. All data were analyzed using SPSS 13. The majority of nurses have a medium level of stigma toward people with mental illness, and there is no significant relation between the type of wards and mean stigma scores. After eliminating factors such as mental illness in nurses and their families, it seems that only working with people with mental illness in psychiatric wards is not enough to create a positive attitude toward them. Additionally, the less physical activity and taking advantage of legal benefits of work hardship for psychiatric nurses, low income, and stigma toward psychiatric nursing, probably may make a difference in inclining to work in psychiatry ward between the two groups in spite of relatively equal stigma scores.

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Validity and Reliability of Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (Cantonese)

Research on Social Work Practice ◽

10.1177/1049731515576209 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 103-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Daniel Kim-Wan Young ◽

Petrus Y. N. Ng ◽

Jia-Yan Pan ◽

Daphne Cheng

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Internalized Stigma ◽

Validity And Reliability ◽

Chinese Consumers ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Five Factors ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness

Purpose: This study aims to translate and test the reliability and validity of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness-Cantonese (ISMI-C). Methods: The original English version of ISMI is translated into the ISMI-C by going through forward and backward translation procedure. A cross-sectional research design is adopted that involved 295 participants randomly drawn from a population of Chinese consumers participated in different kinds of community-based mental health services. Results: Results show that the Cronbach’s α coefficient of the ISMI-C is .93. With regard to validity test, the ISMI-C shows significant and negative correlation with measures on self-esteem and quality of life. Also, an explorative factor analysis yields five factors that are consistent with previous research results. Discussion: This study shows that the ISMI-C is a reliable and valid measure. ISMI-C can facilitate the development of interventions in reducing self-stigma for people with mental illness across Chinese societies.

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Evolving Public Views On The Likelihood Of Violence From People With Mental Illness: Stigma And Its Consequences

Health Affairs ◽

10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00702 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (10) ◽

pp. 1735-1743 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Bernice A. Pescosolido ◽

Bianca Manago ◽

John Monahan

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Mental Illness Stigma ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Public Views

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Measuring the impact of programs that challenge the public stigma of mental illness

Clinical Psychology Review ◽

10.1016/j.cpr.2010.06.004 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 30 (8) ◽

pp. 907-922 ◽

Cited By ~ 212

Author(s):

Patrick W. Corrigan ◽

Jenessa R. Shapiro

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Public Stigma ◽

The Public ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽

The Impact

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Insight and recovery and the stigma of mental illness - analysis of the phenomenon of insight in schizophrenia and its correlations with the processes of stigma and self-stigma

Current Problems of Psychiatry ◽

10.1515/cpp-2017-0024 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 313-320

Author(s):

Ewelina Soroka ◽

Kamila Dziwota ◽

Justyna Pawęzka ◽

Marcin Olajossy

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Social Attitudes ◽

Mental Illness Stigma ◽

Good Insight ◽

Multidimensional Construct ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽

The Media ◽

The Subject ◽

The Relationship ◽

Risk Of Relapse

AbstractDoes better insight associated with the process of recovery mean a stronger sense of mental illness stigma? This article presents the relationship between a multidimensional construct, which is the insight and the phenomena of stigma and self-stigma of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is well known that the term insight contains: a sense of illness, the patient's attitude to its symptoms, explanation of the causes of the illness, attitude to the rationale of treatment and awareness of the risk of relapse. On the other hand, self-stigma occurs when the patient internalizes and refers to himself/herselfnegative and stigmatizing social attitudes, conditioned by the presence of conventionalbeliefs, strengthened by the media, and this weakens the process of recovery.How much does good insight strengthen the patient on the way to fuller social functioning, and how much does it imprint stigma of mental illness and weaken its positionin society? The authors of the paper are discussing the subject of insight and stigma from the patient's perspective, over the patient’s attitude towards the diagnosis of schizophrenia, the process of recovery and the aspect of hope - important in recovery. These study of construct insight shows that the relationship insight-recovery-stigma is a multi-dimensional plane, dependent on various factors, that needs constant deepening and complementing with further research.

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Do Specialty Programs for Justice-Involved People With Mental Illness Exacerbate Stigma?

Criminal Justice and Behavior ◽

10.1177/0093854820942825 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 47 (10) ◽

pp. 1211-1227

Author(s):

Jennifer Eno Louden ◽

Perman Gochyyev ◽

Jennifer L. Skeem

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Probation Officers ◽

Internalized Stigma ◽

Specialty Mental Health ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Stigma Of Mental Illness ◽

Stigmatizing Attitudes ◽

Reducing Recidivism

Specialty mental health probation caseloads have shown promise in reducing recidivism for justice-involved people with mental illness. However, assignment to these caseloads may be stigmatizing due to labeling effects. We examined (1) whether assignment to specialty probation versus traditional probation is associated with greater internalized stigma among clients and (2) whether probation officers are the source of some of this stigmatization. As part of a multisite longitudinal study, 138 specialty probation clients and 148 similar clients from traditional probation rated their internalized stigma of mental illness, and officers rated their attitudes toward each of their supervisees. Specialty probation clients experienced more internalized stigma ( d = .61) than traditional clients. Although both specialty and traditional officers held stigmatizing attitudes toward clients, only traditional officers’ attitudes were associated with clients’ internalized stigma. Probation officers from both types of agency may benefit from antistigma interventions to effectively work with clients with mental illness.

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Mental illness stigma research in Argentina

BJPsych International ◽

10.1192/s2056474000000623 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 86-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Martin Agrest ◽

Franco Mascayano ◽

Sara Elena Ardila-Gómez ◽

Ariel Abeldaño ◽

Ruth Fernandez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Mental Illness Stigma ◽

Future Research ◽

Community Perceptions ◽

Community Based ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

National Mental Health ◽

Community Based Services

Studies regarding stigma towards mental illness in Argentina blossomed after the first National Mental Health Law was passed in 2010. Methodological limitations and contradictory results regarding community perceptions of stigma hinder comparisons across domestic and international contexts but some lessons may still be gleaned. We examine this research and derive recommendations for future research and actions to reduce stigma. These include tackling culture-specific aspects of stigma, increasing education of the general population, making more community-based services available and exposing mental health professionals to people with mental illness who are on community paths to recovery.

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