College of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA.
Can J Psychiatry. 2012 Aug;57(8):464-9. doi: 10.1177/070674371205700804.
People with mental illness have long experienced prejudice and discrimination. Researchers have been able to study this phenomenon as stigma and have begun to examine ways of reducing this stigma. Public stigma is the most prominent form observed and studied, as it represents the prejudice and discrimination directed at a group by the larger population. Self-stigma occurs when people internalize these public attitudes and suffer numerous negative consequences as a result. In our article, we more fully define the concept of self-stigma and describe the negative consequences of self-stigma for people with mental illness. We also examine the advantages and disadvantages of disclosure in reducing the impact of stigma. In addition, we argue that a key to challenging self-stigma is to promote personal empowerment. Lastly, we discuss individual- and societal-level methods for reducing self-stigma, programs led by peers as well as those led by social service providers.
精神疾病患者长期以来一直遭受偏见和歧视。研究人员能够将这种现象作为污名进行研究，并开始研究减少这种污名的方法。公众污名是观察和研究最多的突出形式，因为它代表了大多数人对一个群体的偏见和歧视。当人们内化这些公众态度时，就会出现自我污名，从而导致许多负面后果。在我们的文章中，我们更全面地定义了自我污名的概念，并描述了自我污名对精神疾病患者的负面影响。我们还研究了披露信息在减轻污名影响方面的优缺点。此外，我们认为，挑战自我污名的关键是促进个人赋权。最后，我们讨论了减少自我污名的个人和社会层面的方法，包括同伴领导的项目和社会服务提供者领导的项目。
