Changing stigmatizing perceptions and recollections about mental illness: the effects of NAMI's in Our Own Voice.

In Our Own Voice (IOOV) is a 90-min anti-stigma program that comprises face-to-face stories of challenges of mental illness and hopes and dreams commensurate with recovery. We pared down IOOV to a 30-min version, using information from two focus groups. In this study, effects of 90- versus 30-min IOOV are contrasted with 30 min of education.

What lessons do coming out as gay men or lesbians have for people stigmatized by mental illness?

Goffman (Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NH, 1963) distinguished stigmatized groups as discredited (with relatively obvious marks such as people of color or gender) or discreditable (without obvious marks, causing stigma to be largely hidden). Like gay men and lesbians, people with various mental illnesses can opt to stay in the closet about these conditions in order to avoid corresponding prejudice and discrimination.