Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ)
January 2025
Background: There is a rich literature on the nature of mental health-related stigma and the processes by which it severely affects the life chances of people with mental health problems. However, applying this knowledge to deliver and evaluate interventions to reduce discrimination and stigma in a lasting way is a complex and long-term challenge.
Methods: We conducted a narrative synthesis of systematic reviews published since 2012, and supplemented this with papers published subsequently as examples of more recent work.
Social contact refers to the facilitation of connection and interactions between people with and without mental health conditions. It can be achieved, for example, through people sharing their lived experience of mental health conditions, which is an effective strategy for stigma reduction. Meaningful involvement of people with lived experience (PWLE) in leading and co-leading anti-stigma interventions can/may promote autonomy and resilience.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Stigma is significantly impacted by cultural and contextual value systems. People with mental health conditions frequently have to deal with the condition itself and the associated stigma and discrimination. Contextual understanding is essential to design measures and interventions.
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