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Symposia

Vulnerable Populations

Engaging Varied Stakeholders to Disrupt Stigma as a Barrier to Care Across Mental Health Conditions

3 - (SYM 82) A Multifaceted Comparative Exploration of Public Stigma Across Various Psychological Disorders

Saturday, November 16, 2024
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Location: Grand Ballroom I/J, Level 5, Downtown Marriott
Abstract Body
Although knowledge surrounding the perpetuation of public stigma associated with mental ill-health is well established, levels of stigma between different psychological disorders can vary. Exploring the public stigma associated with psychological disorders in context and comparing the levels of stigma between different disorders is vital to better understanding public stigma’s prevalence and impact. We conducted three studies with Australian samples to investigate these differences.
Study 1 (Reisinger & Gleaves, 2023) explored how the public stigmatization of dissociative identity disorder (DID) compared to that of schizophrenia and depression. Using a between-subjects experimental design, 126 participants responded to a measure of public stigma. Levels of stigma towards both schizophrenia and DID were found to be significantly higher than depression (d = 1.01 and d = 0.67 respectively), but not from each other (d = 0.41), with schizophrenia being slightly more stigmatized.  
Using a similar methodology, Study 2 was conducted to compare the levels of public stigma associated with DID and borderline personality disorder (BPD). In this study of 135 participants, DID was more highly stigmatized compared to BPD, although not significantly (d = 0.24).
Study 3 was conducted to explore the public stigma attributed to anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge-eating disorder (BED), utilizing depression as a comparative control. Again, using a between-subjects experimental design, 245 participants responded to several measures of public stigma. In this sample, AN (d = 0.53), BN (d = 0.49), and BED (d = 0.51) were all significantly more stigmatized than depression. Public stigma levels of the three eating disorder subtypes were not significantly different from each other, except for on one subscale measuring trivialness, where BED was significantly more stigmatized than both AN (d = 0.67) and BN (d = 0.46). 
Although additional research is needed to further compare the public stigmatization of other psychological disorders and to investigate why certain disorders are stigmatized at different levels, the studies mentioned above have highlighted that public stigma is not a binary construct. By understanding which psychological disorders are subject to higher levels of public stigma, targeted policies, campaigns, and interventions can be developed and implemented. These should be aimed at mitigating the harmful effects of public stigma, especially towards psychological disorders that are at a higher risk of being affected by it.