Mental health stigma and primary health care decisions

Abstract

People with serious mental illness have higher rates of mortality and morbidity due to physical illness. In part, this occurs because primary care and other health providers sometimes make decisions contrary to typical care standards. This might occur because providers endorse mental illness stigma, which seems inversely related to prior personal experience with mental illness and mental health care. In this study, 166 health care providers (42.2% primary care, 57.8% mental health practice) from the Veteran's Affairs (VA) medical system completed measures of stigma characteristics, expected adherence, and subsequent health decisions (referral to a specialist and refill pain prescription) about a male patient with schizophrenia who was seeking help for low back pain due to arthritis. Research participants reported comfort with previous mental health interventions. Path analyses showed participants who endorsed stigmatizing characteristics of the patient were more likely to believe he would not adhere to treatment and hence, less likely to refer to a specialist or refill his prescription. Endorsement of stigmatizing characteristics was inversely related to comfort with one's previous mental health care. Implications of these findings will inform a program meant to enhance VA provider attitudes about people with mental illness, as well as their health decisions.

Vital Links Between Obesity and Psychopathology: The Impact of Stigma

“…A plethora of research has independently highlighted that both weight and mental health are stigmatised 2,10 and that experiences of stigma occur in a variety of settings. [12][13][14] The importance of stigma and associated discrimination cannot be overestimated given reports that weight and mental health stigma may lead to poorer body image, low self-esteem, marginalisation leading to social exclusion, reduced quality of life, substance abuse, and, in some cases, self-harming and suicide.…”

“…[12][13][14] The importance of stigma and associated discrimination cannot be overestimated given reports that weight and mental health stigma may lead to poorer body image, low self-esteem, marginalisation leading to social exclusion, reduced quality of life, substance abuse, and, in some cases, self-harming and suicide. 2,[15][16][17] For instance, Puhl and Luedicke 18 reported that weight-based victimisation in boys predicted negative affect when teasing experiences occurred in the classroom or other private locations, such as the school campus. They reported that both boys and girls who reported negative affect due to weight-based victimisation were more likely to use avoidance coping strategies, such as skipping gym class, as well as increased food consumption and binge eating.…”

Vital Links Between Obesity and Psychopathology: The Impact of Stigma

“…2,3 Research demonstrating the link between obesity and psychopathology has increased, where, for example, a higher ratio of psychopathology has been reported in obese people compared with non-obese people. 4,5 Evidence suggests that obesity increases the risk of sub-clinical and clinical psychopathology.…”

Burnout and Stigma of Seeking Help in Lithuanian Mental Health Care Professionals

“…Schulze (2007) reports suprising findings, that the stigma of mental illness is one of the most frequently mentioned stressors contributing to burnout of psychiatrists. Althought stigma of mental illness is analysed in the academic literature as a very important public health issue in the context of patient care (Corrigan et al, 2014;Crisp, 2000), research of stigma as the correlate of occupational burnout is almost absent. Thus, the main purpose of our study is to investigate the correlation between self-stigma of seeking help and burnout of mental health care professionals.…”

“…Based on the literature there may be stated that mental health professionals might be the source of stigma of mental illness as well as stigma recipients (Corrigan et al, 2014;Mårtensson, Jaconsson, & Engstr m, 2014;Schulze, 2007). Research shows that mental health care professionals may hold negative views about people with mental illness http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.…”