Destigmatization of HIV: Progress or Regress?

Abstract

The HIV epidemic has resulted in a renewed interest by social scientists in stigmatization and in a corresponding need to reconceptualize stigma, especially its relationship to power. While the professions have some power to control stigma, the emergence of self-help and mutual aid groups such as those founded by the gay activists involved in the AIDS epidemic, has shown that patients are not simply passive victims in the process of stigmatization. This new approach to stigma raises the questions: does destigmatization occur? What would constitute evidence of such a process? This article examines the change from seeing HIV as an epidemic and as a fatal disease to seeing it as a chronic illness-a possible example of destigmatization in action, noting the basic problems and promise of this process.

Patient Preferences and Acceptability of Evidence-Based and Novel Treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…Furthermore, participants in our survey called for increasing awareness of OCD and its treatments and destigmatizing the illness. Public health campaigns related to stigmatized illnesses, such as HIV, may serve as a model for these efforts (32).…”

Patient Preferences and Acceptability of Evidence-Based and Novel Treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…Furthermore, participants in our survey called for increasing awareness of OCD and its treatments and destigmatizing the illness. Public health campaigns related to stigmatized illnesses, such as HIV, may serve as a model for these efforts (32).…”

Rockefeller, the Flexner Report, and the American Medical Association: The Contentious Relationship Between Conventional Medicine and Homeopathy in America

“…To undermine its primary competition, the AMA discouraged any association or communication with homeopathic doctors. The AMA established a code of ethics that contained a clause known as the “consultation clause.” This clause stated that if orthodox physicians merely consulted a homeopath or any other “non-regular” practitioner, they would lose their membership in the AMA [ 17 ]. In some states, losing membership in the local medical society also meant losing the license to practice medicine.…”

Patient Preferences and Acceptability of Evidence-Based and Novel Treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…Furthermore, participants in our survey called for increasing awareness of OCD and its treatments and destigmatizing the illness. Public health campaigns related to stigmatized illnesses, such as HIV, may serve as a model for these efforts (32).…”

Rockefeller, the Flexner Report, and the American Medical Association: The Contentious Relationship Between Conventional Medicine and Homeopathy in America

“…To undermine its primary competition, the AMA discouraged any association or communication with homeopathic doctors. The AMA established a code of ethics that contained a clause known as the “consultation clause.” This clause stated that if orthodox physicians merely consulted a homeopath or any other “non-regular” practitioner, they would lose their membership in the AMA [ 17 ]. In some states, losing membership in the local medical society also meant losing the license to practice medicine.…”

Patient Preferences and Acceptability of Evidence-Based and Novel Treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…Furthermore, participants in our survey called for increasing awareness of OCD and its treatments and destigmatizing the illness. Public health campaigns related to stigmatized illnesses, such as HIV, may serve as a model for these efforts (32).…”

Rockefeller, the Flexner Report, and the American Medical Association: The Contentious Relationship Between Conventional Medicine and Homeopathy in America

“…To undermine its primary competition, the AMA discouraged any association or communication with homeopathic doctors. The AMA established a code of ethics that contained a clause known as the “consultation clause.” This clause stated that if orthodox physicians merely consulted a homeopath or any other “non-regular” practitioner, they would lose their membership in the AMA [ 17 ]. In some states, losing membership in the local medical society also meant losing the license to practice medicine.…”