Self‐stigma and coming out about one's mental illness

Abstract

Self-stigma can undermine self-esteem and self-efficacy of people with serious mental illness. Coming out may be one way of handling self-stigma and it was expected that coming out would mediate the effects of self-stigma on quality of life. This study compares coming out to other approaches of controlling self-stigma. Eighty-five people with serious mental illness completed measures of coming out (called the Coming Out with Mental Illness Scale, COMIS), self-stigma, quality of life, and strategies for managing self-stigma. An exploratory factor analysis of the COMIS uncovered two constructs: benefits of being out (BBO) and reasons for staying in. A mediational analysis showed BBO diminished self-stigma effects on quality of life. A factor analysis of measures of managing self-stigma yielded three factors. Benefits of being out was associated with two of these: affirming strategies and becoming aloof, not with strategies of shame. Implications for how coming out enhances the person’s quality of life are discussed.

Failed, not finished: A narrative approach to understanding venture failure stigmatization

“…These contexts include physical (Fife and Wright, 2000) and mental illness (Kroska and Harkness 2006;Markowitz 1998), sexual orientation (Hereck et al, 2009), and criminality (Rasmusen1996; Schnittker and John 2007). Corrigan et al (2010) identified two types of stigma: social and self-stigma. Social stigma involved discrimination at the hand of others due to illness and was a means of endorsing specific stereotypes within society.…”

“…Social stigma involved discrimination at the hand of others due to illness and was a means of endorsing specific stereotypes within society. Self-stigma entailed a person discrediting him or herself, thereby endorsing the negative beliefs held by society (Corrigan et al 2010). Similarly, other scholars described self-stigmatization as the negative reaction of a person to him/herself in the light of personal experience (Knight et al, 2003).…”

Improving Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes towards Individuals with Mental Illness through an Introduction to Special Education Course

“…Programs focusing on contact with individuals with mental illness such as In Our Own Voice (IOOV)-which is a 30 -to 90-minute anti-stigma program that comprises a set of face-to-face challenges mimicking those individuals with mental illness face-has been effective in changing individuals' attitudes toward mental illness (Corrigan et al, 2010). Education programs for changing societal attitudes about mental illness have been mixed.…”

Olhar de Trabalhadores da Construção Civil Sobre as Drogas na Vida de Sua Família

“…A internalização do estigma ocorre à medida que o indivíduo se torna consciente dos estereótipos negativos que as outras pessoas endossam (consciência dos estereótipos), concorda pessoalmente com esses estereótipos (concordância com estereótipos) e, aplica esses estereótipos a si mesmo. A consciência do estigma é um componente necessário, mas não suficiente para sua internalização, a qual só ocorre mediante a concordância e aplicação dos estereótipos pelos indivíduos portadores da condição estigmatizada a si próprios 19 . Nessa perspectiva, os participantes do estudo demonstraram forte o autoestigma.…”