Why do people stigmatize depression

In Northern Ireland there is a booklet produced by Aware that explains depression very clearly to children 7. But the success of such programmes needs careful evaluation. Wolpert L. Malignant Sadness The Anatomy of Depression, 2nd edn.

London: Faber, Byrne P. Stigma of mental illness and ways of diminishing it. Adv Psychiatr Treat ; 6 : 65 — Crisp A. The tendency to stigmatise. Br J Psychiatry ; : —9. Haghighat R. A unitary theory of stigmatisation. Pursuit of self-interest and routes to destigmatisation. Br J Psychiatry ; : — Londonderry: Aware. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

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Volume Article Contents Abstract. Stigma of depression — a personal view. Lewis Wolpert Lewis Wolpert. Oxford Academic. Google Scholar. Select Format Select format. Permissions Icon Permissions. Abstract Depression is a serious illness of which I and other patients should not be ashamed but this is hard to avoid. All played out. This can make life even harder. Time to Change campaigned to change the way people think and act about mental health problems.

The campaign has now closed, but there is still plenty of useful information on their website about challenging stigma and discrimination when you see, hear or experience it. They also have resources for your workplace or school if you want to help others understand mental health and challenge stigma.

In Scotland, the anti-stigma organisation See Me has ideas on challenging stigma and discrimination. They also have resources and activities you could use at work. If you want to do more campaigning around mental health issues, you could join OPEN , our personal experience network. We want to hear from people with a range of mental health experiences, whether yours is good, bad or something in between.

The Equality Act protects you from discrimination and lets you challenge it. It makes it illegal to discriminate against people with mental health problems when you:. To be protected, you need to show your mental health problem is a disability. You may not think of yourself as disabled, but the Equality Act could still protect you if you fit its definition of disability.

You need to show you have a long-term mental health problem that makes your everyday life substantially difficult. In consideration of the feasibility of a questionnaire survey targeting citizens, we avoided exhaustive questions on beliefs about depression.

We decided to show four short sentences and ask participants whether they agreed with each sentence or not. These four items selected as basic knowledge and stigma which should be understood correctly by the public not to interfere with treatment of people with depression and their reintegration into society. Some depressed persons hide their distress and might smile in public, which makes it difficult for others to notice that they are depressed.

People might believe that persons with depression do not laugh. It is said that the Japanese believe strongly that they must behave in a favorable manner in public. Therefore, we thought that it would be appropriate to use this item to identify this misunderstanding. Belief that a weak personality, as opposed to biological factors, is the cause of depression is a major source of stigma towards depression in Japan [ 22 , 24 , 25 ].

Possible answers for each item were strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, and uncertain. Health literacy and health conditions were examined as related factors. Health literacy includes the cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health [ 26 ]. Health literacy was evaluated using the communicative and critical health literacy scale [ 28 ], a five-item, two-domain questionnaire.

The two domains include communicative health literacy items 1 - 3 and critical health literacy items 4 - 5. These items asked whether the participant would be able to 1 collect health-related information from various sources, 2 extract the desired information, 3 understand and communicate the obtained information, 4 consider the credibility of the information and 5 make decisions based on the information, specifically in the context of health-related issues.

Each item was rated on a five-point scale, with scores ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating strongly disagree, 2 indicating somewhat disagree, 3 indicating neither agree nor disagree, 4 indicating somewhat agree, and 5 indicating strongly agree. The item-total correlations were all positive and ranged from 0. Medical conditions included currently making outpatient visits regularly and history of depression. Subjects with no missing data in the items about beliefs regarding depression, health literacy scores, and age were included in the analysis.

Age and health literacy score were divided into two groups based on the median value. Univariate analysis was performed to evaluate the associations between appropriate beliefs regarding depression and health literacy scores, health conditions, and demographic data.

Multivariate logistic regression analysis with forced entry was performed to examine the association between beliefs regarding depression and all factors that were significantly associated with at least one belief regarding depression in the univariate analysis. A total of 1, citizens participated in the survey. Replies from 1, citizens with no missing data for age, beliefs regarding depression, and health literacy scores were used for analysis. The response rate was The characteristics of the respondents are listed in Table 1.

The median age was 55 interquartile range IQR , 37 - 66 years. Among all respondents, Figure 1 shows public beliefs regarding depression.

Table 2 shows the results of univariate analysis on the association between beliefs regarding depression and various factors. Participants who responded appropriately were less likely to regularly visit an outpatient clinic They were less likely to regularly visit an outpatient clinic Table 3 shows the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis on beliefs regarding depression and total health literacy score, age group, sex, employment status, educational background, regularly visiting an outpatient clinic, and history of depression.

This survey evaluated knowledge and stigma towards depression in a large number of citizens. First, The details and degree of stigma associated with mental health disorders vary across cultures and countries [ 22 ]. In a study about the stigma of depression in Japanese versus Australians, Although direct comparisons could not be performed, in our study conducted 9 years after that study in , the number of people who believe that a weak personality causes depression is likely to have decreased.

For the purpose of preventing suicide associated with depression, in the Japanese government conducted a campaign asking people to consult with a doctor when they have prolonged sleep disturbances.

In addition, attempts have been made in recent years to increase public awareness that depression is a treatable disease. However, a much higher percentage of the Japanese public still believe that a weak personality causes depression compared with the general population in the West. This stigma may delay help-seeking behavior in people with depression and interrupt treatment. According to one study conducted across Japan, In other words, the perception that depression is a treatable disease may be lacking in Japan.

Furthermore, understanding among the surrounding people is important for depression care; thus, it is necessary to plan an intervention program to reduce public stigma towards depression. Second, only Not believing in the effectiveness of antidepressants may affect adherence to pharmacotherapy.

The reason for this difference may be the difference in how the question was presented between the studies. The previous study asked about people described in a vignette about depression, whereas our study asked about a case specified as depression.

However, in an Australian study based on a vignette, Recognition of the effectiveness of antidepressants has not spread to the public in Japan, suggesting that public awareness-raising activities on treatment methods are necessary.

Several other findings are described below. Among the public, Japanese government statistics show that the number of people diagnosed with depression in recent years has increased greatly. This increase in the number of opportunities to be in contact with people diagnosed with depression may be one reason for increased understanding. In addition, respondents may have understood the character of people who try to avoid behaviors that make others uncomfortable.

However, according to a survey, the Japanese public recognized that people with depression have a mental health problem, but tended not to recognize that it was a disease named depression [ 29 ]. Further research is required to understand reasons why Japanese people are unlikely to notice depression in other people. In multivariate analysis, health literacy was associated only with an appropriate belief about the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy. Health literacy examined in this study consisted of the ability to collect information and critically examine it.

Stigma happens when someone is labelled in a way that hurts their standing in the community, and encourages people to consider them as less than a whole person. Stigma is a result of ignorance: people tend to fear what they do not understand. Stigma can lead to hurt, rejection and prejudice against people who are labelled. People with mental health problems are labelled with a variety of names e.

Many people we talked to felt shame about their mental health problems, which some of their families also felt. Some tried to overcome this shame. For instance, many tried to pass as 'normal' and as if they were coping. Some avoided getting a diagnosis, or wondered if they should declare their depression to potential employers, aware that a history of mental illness would make it harder to get a job.

Some people argued that the effectiveness of their medication proved that the problem was with brain chemistry, was no-one's 'fault' and therefore should not be stigmatised. As people came to better accept themselves, they sometimes took a more active approach to tackling stigma. Telling a few trusted individuals is often a first step.

Prejudice could not always be avoided and people sometimes ended up feeling hurt and angry at assumptions that people with mental health problems are violent, dangerous or drug addicts. Some people challenge other people's views on mental health very directly or even make personal complaints to the media about stereotyped portrayals of mental illness.

And things are slowly changing. However, for another man, the Bruno episode exposed racial stereotypes on top of stigma. Others were encouraged by the way celebrities were more and more open about their depression. One man spoke positively about an anti-discrimination campaign that was run in his community, and another woman encouraged fellow users to tackle stigma directly in the media.

Feels she can't tell her family about seeing a psychiatrist as she fears they would see her as View full profile. But I can't talk to my family about it. They don't know about the therapy.

I think it's the stigma thing. I think it's the I'm the youngest of a big family and I think I would be seen, my perception is that I would be seen as weak and not coping, so it's easier for me not to admit to that weakness and just say, oh, just fudge the issue really.

I could never dream of saying to my family that I was seeing a psychiatrist. I mean that would be you know, horrendous. Because they wouldn't understand, certainly where I am now, the position I'm in now that it is actually a good thing. Whereas if I said I'm seeing a gastro-enterologist - fine, no problem, but seeing a psychiatrist that's it, there's something deeply wrong with you.