Of Fear and Loathing: The Role of 'Disturbing Behavior,' Labels, and Causal Attributions in Shaping Public Attitudes toward People with Mental Illness

Martin, Jack; Pescosolido, Bernice A.; Tuch, Steven A.

doi:10.2307/2676306

Cited by 548 publications

(484 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…When comparing the attitudes of our participants with those of other studies conducted with the general population, attitudes of fear, dangerousness, responsibility for the condition, and avoidance seem to have been less frequent in our study. [33][34][35][36][37][38] Notwithstanding, other studies conducted with relatives of people with severe mental illness have also confirmed a low level of perceived dangerousness, similarly to our study. 39 The attitudes of our family members seem to be oriented towards providing support and assistance to the mentally ill, although they do consider compliance to pharmacological treatment and regular medical visits as essential for the patient's well-being, even if against the patient's own will.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Stigmatizing attitudes in relatives of people with schizophrenia: a study using the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27

Sousa¹,

Marques²,

Rosário³

et al. 2012

Trends Psychiatry Psychother.

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Background: Family members of people with mental disorders can contribute to stigmatization. Because of the lack of adequate information and resources, and the fatigue resulting from daily care, the family can reinforce social exclusion of the mentally ill and disbelieve recovery. Furthermore, family members may also suffer from self-stigma, experiencing a decrease in their own self-esteem and self-worth. Objective: To evaluate the presence of stigmatizing attitudes towards patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in a group of relatives of patients with this disorder. Methods: In this exploratory study, we surveyed 40 family members of patients with schizophrenia seen at the Community Psychiatry Unit of the Psychiatry Department at Centro Hospitalar de São João (CHSJ), in Porto, Portugal, using a preliminary version of the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27 in Portuguese. Results: The questionnaire dimensions with the highest mean scores were help, pity, and coercion, followed by segregation, anger, avoidance, dangerousness, responsibility, and fear. These results suggest that relatives do not see people with schizophrenia as responsible for their illness and that they show concern and willingness to help. They avoid but do not fear people with schizophrenia and neither consider them dangerous. Conclusion:The participants expressed positive, little stigmatizing attitudes towards people with schizophrenia, probably as a result of their familiarity with severe mental disorder, an adequate attribution process, and low levels of perceived dangerousness. However, the high scores of coercion, pity, and segregation may reflect concealed stigmas that may influence the self-determination of the mentally ill, suggesting the need for psychoeducational interventions aimed at family members.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Stigmatizing attitudes in relatives of people with schizophrenia: a study using the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27

Sousa¹,

Marques²,

Rosário³

et al. 2012

Trends Psychiatry Psychother.

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“…So I have a great deal of sympathy. (25, M, 55-64) Studies have reported addictions to be more negatively perceived than other mental illnesses Link et al, 1989;Martin, Pescosolido, & Tuch, 2000), with drug addiction generally more highly stigmatized than alcohol and gambling addictions, which have been found to attract similar levels of stigma (Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Faulkner, Paglia-Boak, & Irving, 2010;Horch & Hodgins, 2008). Addictions tend to be highly stigmatized because affected individuals are perceived as blameworthy for their disorder (Angermeyer & Dietrich, 2006), despite having impaired control over their addictive behaviour.…”

Section: Perceived Origin Of Problem Gambling and Other Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived stigma and self-stigma of problem gambling: perspectives of people with gambling problems

Hing

Nuske

Gainsbury

et al. 2015

International Gambling Studies

106

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“…It may also point to strategies for recovery. Nevertheless, a potential problem associated with belonging to this group is that there are stereotyped beliefs attached to severe mental illness (Martin et al, 2000;Swindle et al, 2000). Categorically referred to as stigma, these beliefs are spread across all levels of society and include expectations of violent and disorderly behavior as well as the conviction that persons with schizophrenia cannot work or make informed decisions about their welfare (Link et al, 1999;Phelan et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of multiple domains of self-esteem with four dimensions of stigma in schizophrenia

Lysaker

Tsai

Yanos

et al. 2008

Schizophrenia Research

120

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Research suggests global self-esteem among persons with schizophrenia may be negatively affected by stigma or stereotyped beliefs about persons with severe mental illness. Less clear however, is whether particular dimensions of self-esteem are linked to particular domains of stigma. To examine this we surveyed a range of self-esteem dimensions including lovability, personal power, competence and moral self-approval and four domains of stigma: Stereotype endorsement, Discrimination experience, Social withdrawal and Stigma rejection. Participants were 133 adults with diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Stepwise multiple regressions controlling for a possible defensive response bias suggested that aspects of self-esteem related to lovability by others were more closely linked with lesser feelings of being alienated from others due to mental illness. Aspects of self-esteem related to the ability to manage one's own affairs were more closely associated with the rejection of stereotypes of mental illness. A sense of being able to influence others was linked to both the absence of discrimination experiences and the ability to ward off stigma. Implications for treatment are discussed.

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Of Fear and Loathing: The Role of 'Disturbing Behavior,' Labels, and Causal Attributions in Shaping Public Attitudes toward People with Mental Illness

Cited by 548 publications

References 41 publications

Stigmatizing attitudes in relatives of people with schizophrenia: a study using the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27

Stigmatizing attitudes in relatives of people with schizophrenia: a study using the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27

Perceived stigma and self-stigma of problem gambling: perspectives of people with gambling problems

Associations of multiple domains of self-esteem with four dimensions of stigma in schizophrenia

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