Strategies for Assessing and Diminishing Self-Stigma.

Abstract

As discussed in an earlier chapter, self-stigma seems to be represented by a paradox. First impressions about the stigma of mental illness suggest people with psychiatric disability, living in a society that widely endorses stigmatizing ideas, will internalize these ideas and believe that they are less valued because of their psychiatric disorder. Self-esteem suffers, as does confidence in one's future (Corrigan, 1998;Holmes & River, 1998). Given this research, models of self-stigma need to account for the deleterious effects of prejudice on an individual's conception of him or herself. However, research also suggests that instead of being diminished by the stigma, many persons become righteously angry because of the prejudice that they have experienced (Chamberlin, 1978;Deegan, 1990). This kind of reaction empowers people to change their roles in the mental health system, becoming more active participants in their treatment plan and often pushing for improvements in the quality of services (Corrigan, 2002). And yet a third reaction exists that needs to be considered in describing the impact of stigma on the self. The sense of self for many persons with mental illness is neither hurt, nor energized by social stigma; persons instead seem to be indifferent to it altogether.

Targeting Self-Stigma in Returning Military Personnel and Veterans: A Review of Intervention Strategies

“…Those who identify with a stigmatized group but perceive a stereotype to be illegitimate instead respond with righteous anger. Thus, Corrigan and Calabrese (2005) recommended cognitive techniques and personal empowerment as useful self-stigma reduction strategies. Researchers who have examined the effects of stigma on treatment utilization in the military have also underscored the potential usefulness of cognitive techniques (Stecker et al, 2007).…”

“…Lastly, Corrigan and Calabrese (2005) cautioned that too strong a focus on self-stigma may divert attention from the public's role in creating and maintaining stigma. This perspective draws attention to the importance of complementing efforts aimed at promoting service utilization at the individual level with initiatives targeting stigma across all levels, including the societal, institutional, and governmental.…”

Cognitive Intervention for Voice Hearers

“…The intent is to increase the voice hearer's tolerance for uncertainty and ability to check out the worthiness of ideas with others without being denigrated. Here, the clinician is careful to provide a range of meaningful, and meaningless, alternative explanations of a voice hearing event so that the voice hearer can consider and reach a verdict about the merits of a particular belief (Corrigan & Calabrese, 2005;Freeman et al, 2004).…”

Towards thriving

“…Stigma in the context of seeking therapy is separated into two distinct categories, social stigmadefined as the fear of being judged by others for seeking mental health support (e.g. labelling, stereotyping, discrimination) -and self-stigma -the internalisation of wider sociocultural ideas (usually negative) relating to seeking mental health support which are then adopted as the individual's own opinions [13,14,39,63]. Here, participants were enabled to try out CBT-like thinking and to apply this to their own lives and issues, without any social or financial pressure to can come from face-to-face therapy [14].…”

“…labelling, stereotyping, discrimination) -and self-stigma -the internalisation of wider sociocultural ideas (usually negative) relating to seeking mental health support which are then adopted as the individual's own opinions [13,14,39,63]. Here, participants were enabled to try out CBT-like thinking and to apply this to their own lives and issues, without any social or financial pressure to can come from face-to-face therapy [14]. There was no 'stigma' involved, no physical commitment to attend a therapy session once per week, no social implications of building a relationship with a therapist.…”