Much more is known about attitudes toward mental illness and social stigma, the viscious cycle of its consequences and how to fight the social stigma in public, but much less is known about how to combat the stigma and self stigma in clinical practice. Stigma theories have not been enough to understand the feelings and experience of people with mental illness. Conceptual framework that understa...

Stigma is recognised as a major obstacle to recovery and integration of people with mental health problems. In this chapter the definitions of cognitive, emotional and social aspects of stigma will be presented, as well as origins, main representations and coping strategies. The research on stigma is presented, beginning with Gofmann's work (Chapter History) and followed by contemporary researc...

One of the resolutions adopted by the July-August 2004 56th session of the United Nations Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (www.un.org/news/press/docs/2004/ hcrn110/doc.htm) was the call for a working paper on ‘Discrimination against leprosy victims and their families’. The term ‘discrimination’ embraces most, but not all, facets of the concept and impact of leprosy...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the presence, causes and means of addressing individual and systemic stigma and discrimination against people with mental illness in Zambia. This is to facilitate the development of tailor-made antistigma initiatives that are culturally sensitive for Zambia and other low-income African countries. This is the first in-depth study on ment...

RATIONALE Transgender people in the United States experience widespread prejudice, discrimination, violence, and other forms of stigma. OBJECTIVE This critical review aims to integrate the literature on stigma towards transgender people in the U.S. RESULTS This review demonstrates that transgender stigma limits opportunities and access to resources in a number of critical domains (e.g., emp...

Internationally, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, triggered at least in part by growing recognition that negative social responses to the epidemic remain pervasive even in seriously affected communities. Yet, rarely are existing notions of stigma and discrimination interrogated for their conceptual adequacy and their usefulness in...