Oral E Timuçin
Bakirköy Prof. Mazhar Osman State Training and Research Hospital, for Psychiatry and Neurology, Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey.
Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2007 Feb;28 Suppl 1:35-45.
Stigma is linked to negative prejudices without examining whether there is any justification for such behaviour. Over time, various efforts have been made to reduce prejudice toward people with mental illness. Yet, the World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Report still describes stigma as one of the greatest obstacles to the treatment of mental illness. While schizophrenia, among other mental illnesses, is the most stigmatized even to the point that some want the name of the illness to be hidden or changed, patients with bipolar illness may also be exposed to stigma. The degree of stigmatization has been found to be positively associated with the severity of the mental disorder, and stigma is carried out not only by patients but also by their families in correlation with the severity. Tragically, people with mental illness themselves are as negative in their opinions about mental illness as is the general public, and concerns about stigma adversely affect self-esteem and adaptive social functioning. There are many programmes worldwide for the fight against stigmatization, and there is clear recognition of the fact that stigma can only be successfully eliminated if the programme becomes a normal part of health service rather than of campaigns of limited duration.
污名与负面偏见相关联，却不审视这种行为是否有任何正当理由。随着时间的推移，人们已经做出了各种努力来减少对精神疾病患者的偏见。然而，世界卫生组织（WHO）的《世界卫生报告》仍将污名描述为精神疾病治疗的最大障碍之一。虽然精神分裂症以及其他精神疾病是最受污名化的，甚至到了有些人希望隐藏或更改疾病名称的程度，但双相情感障碍患者也可能遭受污名。研究发现，污名化程度与精神障碍的严重程度呈正相关，而且污名不仅由患者施加给自己，其家人也会随着疾病严重程度而施加污名。可悲的是，患有精神疾病的人自身对精神疾病的看法与普通大众一样负面，对污名的担忧会对自尊和适应性社会功能产生不利影响。全球有许多反对污名化的项目，并且人们清楚地认识到，只有当该项目成为卫生服务的常规组成部分而非短期活动时，污名才有可能被成功消除。
