title: [Stigma: Barrier to Access to Mental Health Services].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The perceived stigma represents a sociocultural barrier to access mental health services and prevents individuals who meet criteria for a mental disorder the possibility of receiving comprehensive and integred care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To update institutional mechanisms by which stigma related to mental disorders, perceived and perpetrated, acts as a barrier to mental health access.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stigma as a barrier to access to mental health services is due to a reduction in service requests, the allocation of limited resources to mental health, the systematic process of impoverishment of the people who suffer a mental disorder, increased risk of crime, and implications in contact with the legal system, and the invisibility of the vulnerability of these people.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Structured awareness and education programs are needed to promote awareness about mental disorders, promote community-based psychosocial rehabilitation, and reintegration into productive life process. In Colombia, the frequency and variables associated with the stigma of mental disorders needs to be studied. This knowledge will enable the implementation of measures to promote the social and labor inclusion of people who meet the criteria for mental disorders.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación del Comportamiento Humano, Director, Investigaciones y Publicaciones, Instituto de Investigación del Comportamiento Humano, Bogotá, Colombia. Electronic address: campoarias@comportamientohumano.org.
authors.forename: Adalberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Campo-Arias
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación del Comportamiento Humano, Bogotá; Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
authors.forename: Heidi Celina
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Oviedo
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación del Comportamiento Humano; candidato a doctor en salud pública, Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Director, Instituto de Investigación del Comportamiento Humano, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herazo
keywords: Acceso a servicios de salud; Discriminación social; Estigma social; Health services accessibility; Mental disorders; Prejudice; Prejuicio; Review; Revisión; Social discrimination; Social stigma; Trastornos mentales