Background: In many ways, the experience of stigma has come out of the closet but yet it remains a seriously neglected issue in the global response to some chronic disease such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is the most common hormonal problem in women which can be a precursor to many life threatening conditions including type II diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and ca...

This study investigates 122 people's descriptions of their self-harm experiences using thematic analysis. Analysis revealed four themes: What counts as self-harm, What leads to self-harm, Intentions and Managing stigma. Our participants challenged commonly accepted understandings in terms of method, outcome and intentions. Several difficulties associated with discriminating between suicidal and...

Head and neck cancer is associated with multiple layers of distress including stigma. Stigma attraction or devalued social identity is twofold: (1) it is a cancer associated with lifestyle risk factors and (2) treatment often results in confronting facial disfigurement. Subjective interpretations from nine head and neck cancer patients were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysi...

Background Stigmatizing attitudes among healthcare providers are an important barrier to accessing services among people living with HIV (PLHIV). This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the status and correlates of HIV-related stigma among healthcare providers in Kerman, Iran.   M...

BACKGROUND Self-stigmatization is a step-by-step process during which the person uncritically accepts the societal negative evaluation and applies it to himself. Relation between self-stigma and suicidality in neurotic disorders is not known. The aim of our study was to find connection between self-stigma and the level of suicidality in neurotic spectrum disorders. METHOD It was a cross-secti...

Self-stigma represents a barrier in finding appropriate treatment services, and brings several negative consequences for the individual and the worsening of the situation. Considering that substance dependence is one of the most stigmatizing health conditions, this study aims to assess self-stigma among crack, alcohol, and both substances (crack and alcohol) dependents. The instruments used wer...

In the early 1900s Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self” (Cooley, 1902, 1909) articulated that ideas about ourselves are profoundly shaped by how we believe others see us—that one’s self concept is socially constructed. As a result, negative judgments from others are often incorporated into one’s self concept (Allport, 1954; Crocker & Major, 1989; Link, Cullen, Struening, et al., 1989; M...

BACKGROUND The views of one's self-stigma and quality of life (QoL) in patients with schizophrenia and depressive disorders are significant subjective notions, both being proven to affect patient's functioning in life. The objective of this study was to investigate the QoL and self-stigma in connection with demographic factors and compare the two groups of patients in terms of those variables. ...

Goal The goal of this study was to explore the impact of self-stigma on the treatment outcomes in patients with anxiety disorders and to find possible mediators of this relationship. Method Two hundred and nine patients with anxiety disorders, who were hospitalized in a psychotherapeutic department, attended the study. The average age was 39.2±12.4 years; two-thirds were women. Most of the pa...