Stigma related to labels and symptoms in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis.

Background: Despite advances that the psychosis "clinical high-risk" (CHR) identification offers, risk of stigma exists. Awareness of and agreement with stereotypes has not yet been evaluated in CHR individuals. Furthermore, the relative stigma associated with symptoms, as opposed to the label of risk, is not known, which is critical because CHR identification may reduce symptom-related stigma.

Public stigma associated with psychosis risk syndrome in a college population: implications for peer intervention.

Objectives: This study compared stigma associated with the psychosis risk label and diagnostic labels for nonpsychotic and psychotic mental disorders among young adult peers.

Methods: Urban college respondents (N=153) read an experimental vignette describing a young adult experiencing prodromal symptoms who was randomly assigned a diagnostic label (major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, or psychosis risk with and without accurate information about the psychosis risk label) and answered questions about stigma toward the individual in the vignette.

Results: Compared with labels for nonpsychotic disorders, schizophrenia elicited more negative stereotyping and the at-risk label invoked greater social distance and less willingness to help.

Effects of labeling and interpersonal contact upon attitudes towards schizophrenia: implications for reducing mental illness stigma in urban China.

Purpose: As mental illness stigma contributes to poor outcomes for schizophrenia in China, locating strategies to reduce public stigma is imperative. It is currently unknown whether diagnostic labeling and contact with different help-seeking sources increase or decrease public stigma in China. Further, it remains unresolved whether prior personal contact acts to reduce stigma in this context.

Causal Beliefs and Effects upon Mental Illness Identification Among Chinese Immigrant Relatives of Individuals with Psychosis.

Identifying factors that facilitate treatment for psychotic disorders among Chinese-immigrants is crucial due to delayed treatment use. Identifying causal beliefs held by relatives that might predict identification of 'mental illness' as opposed to other 'indigenous labels' may promote more effective mental health service use. We examine what effects beliefs of 'physical causes' and other non-biomedical causal beliefs ('general social causes', and 'indigenous Chinese beliefs' or culture-specific epistemologies of illness) might have on mental illness identification.

Eugenics, genetics, and mental illness stigma in Chinese Americans.

Background: The increasing interest in the genetic causes of mental disorders may exacerbate existing stigma if negative beliefs about a genetic illness are generally accepted. China's history of policy-level eugenics and genetic discrimination in the workplace suggests that Chinese communities will view genetic mental illness less favorably than mental illness with non-genetic causes. The aim of this study is to identify differences between Chinese Americans and European Americans in eugenic beliefs and stigma toward people with genetic mental illness.

Potential stigma associated with inclusion of the psychosis risk syndrome in the DSM-V: an empirical question.

While the "clinical high-risk state" for psychosis has demonstrated good reliability and fair predictive validity for psychotic disorders, over 50% of identified subjects do not progress to psychosis. Despite the benefits that early detection and treatment might offer, debate concerning the official inclusion of a "psychosis risk syndrome" in the upcoming DSM-V frequently involves concerns about the impact of stigma on patients, families and institutions. We add to this debate by providing an analysis of the theoretical and empirical stigma literature to evaluate the potential effects of stigma associated with the psychosis risk syndrome.