title: Comparing Self-stigma Between People With Different Mental Disorders in Taiwan.
abstract: Internalized stigma (or self-stigma), one of the most painful effects of stigma, causes people with mental health problems profound negative consequences, for example, psychological adversity, demoralization, and feelings of hopelessness. However, knowledge about self-stigma in people with different mental disorders is insufficient. We hypothesized that people with different psychiatric diagnoses have different levels of self-stigma. Through convenience sampling, we used the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale to compare people diagnosed with schizophrenia (n = 161), depressive disorder (n = 98), bipolar disorder (n = 43), and anxiety disorder (n = 45) in southern Taiwan. We found that people with schizophrenia (mean, 2.09-2.30) and those with bipolar disorder (mean, 2.16-2.38) had significantly higher levels of self-stigma, except for the Stigma Resistance, than did those with anxiety disorder (mean, 1.74-1.87). Our results suggest that clinicians should use different interventions to reduce self-stigma for populations with different psychiatric diagnoses.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; †Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK; ‡Department of Senior Citizen Service Management, College of Recreation and Health Management, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science; §Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying; ∥Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan, Taiwan; and ¶Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Chih-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Tsung-Hsien
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chih-Yin
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chung-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012649:Self Concept; D057545:Social Stigma; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult