Understanding Internalized Stigma's Role in Sex-Specific Suicidal Ideation among Individuals with Bipolar Disorder.

: The experience of stigma can exert a profound impact on the mental health and well-being of individuals with bipolar disorder (BD). Our study explores which factors of internalized stigma are associated with suicidal ideation and how they differ between the two sexes in a clinical sample of BD patients. : The study follows a cross-sectional study design, employing the Clinical Global Impression for Bipolar Patients (CGI-BP) to evaluate the overall severity of illness and the alteration in patients affected by bipolar disorder, the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) assessing self-stigma among individuals experiencing mental disorders, and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) identifying and assessing individuals vulnerable to suicide. Descriptive analyses, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and logistic regression analysis were conducted, and 344 BD subjects were recruited. : Our ANOVA results revealed a significant association between sex and suicide across ISMI sub-items ( = 0.000). Logistic regression analysis comprised three phases: Discrimination was consistently significant across all phases ( < 0.001), while Alienation and Stereotype emerged as additional predictors of suicide in later phases of the analysis ( < 0.001). : Our study contributes to the growing body of literature on internalized stigma, sex, and suicidality among individuals with bipolar disorder. Early intervention programs and prevention strategies are needed.