Principles: Stigma

Stigma is a pervasive force that has powerful consequences and reduces the life opportunities of people with mental illness and other stigmatized conditions. Society also becomes burdened by the costs of people with mental illness who neglect adequate treatment and whose conditions worsen due to fears of stigma. The concept of stigma includes interior psychological processes within people with mental illness, interpersonal social processes between individuals and groups, and large-scale processes on the level of culture and politics. These models identify different mechanisms by which stigma exerts its negative effects on people with mental illness and other stigmatized conditions. Further, current antistigma interventions have drawn upon these conceptualizations to reduce stigma and its effects. Attitudes toward mental illness and other stigmatized conditions may continue to change as scientific understanding of these illnesses evolves.