Empirical Studies of Self-Stigma Reduction Strategies: A Critical Review of the Literature

Abstract

Two prominent approaches for self-stigma reduction emerged from our review: one, interventions that attempt to alter the stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes of the individual; and two, interventions that enhance skills for coping with self-stigma through improvements in self-esteem, empowerment, and help-seeking behavior. The second approach seems to have gained traction among stigma experts. Targeting high-risk groups to preempt self-stigma appears to be a promising area for future research.

Contextualizing public stigma: Endorsed mental health treatment stigma on college and university campuses

“…Research suggests that among college students, efforts at mental health education are more effective in reducing stigma than efforts at increasing contact with others who have a mental health condition and overall, targeted interventions are more effective than broad interventions (Mittal et al 2012;Thornicroft et al 2016). These findings suggest that colleges and universities might reduce stigma by investing in localized anti-stigma campaigns with physical and digital materials conveying facts and statistics about mental health.…”

Validation of the Mental Illness Sexual Stigma Questionnaire (MISS-Q) in a sample of Brazilian adults in psychiatric care

“…A recent review identified two approaches for reducing general internalized stigma (i.e., not specifically sexualor romantic-related): interventions aimed at changing stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes about mental illness, and interventions that do not challenge stereotypes but rather improve stigma-coping skills by enhancing self-esteem, empowerment, and help-seeking behavior 31 . Even though tackling stigmatizing beliefs might seem a more direct and logical way to reduce internalized stigma, an important number of stigma experts seem to favor the coping training approach 31 .…”

“…Even though tackling stigmatizing beliefs might seem a more direct and logical way to reduce internalized stigma, an important number of stigma experts seem to favor the coping training approach 31 . Future research should explore if reducing internalized stigma has, in turn, a positive effect on wellbeing, including sexual-or romantic-related aspects, or whether mental illness sexual stigma must be the direct focus of an intervention to reduce its negative impact.…”

Constructs and concepts comprising the stigma of mental illness

“…A recent review yielded fourteen studies that have tested self-stigma change programs (Mittal, Sullivan, Chekuri, Allee, & Corrigan, 2012). The most common method was psychoeducation-based programs.…”