Abstract:
Objectives: Psychiatric stigma refers to systemic and internalized stereotypical negative attitudes against individual with mental illness. This article describes the level of self stigma, stereotype endorsement and perceived discrimination experienced by patients with Bipolar-- I disorder in Tehran. Methods: Data were collected from a total of 126 patients with Bipolar-- I disorder who responded to acute phase treatment using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale. The ISMI scale has five subscales : Alienation, Stereotype Endorsement, Perceived Discrimination, Social Withdrawal and Stigma Resistance. Results: In this study 26.7% of participants reported moderate to high levels of self stigma , 57.49% moderate to high levels of stigma resistance and 18.3% moderate to high levels of Perceived discrimination. Discussion: The results suggest that, self stigma appears in over one fifth of individuals with Bipolar-- I disorder in Iran. The symptoms of Bipolar-- I disorder has profound impacts on the quality of life of affected patients. Psychosocial functioning and self-esteem is impaired in people with Bipolar-- I disorder. Interventions are required to reduce the negative effects of internalized stigma in this group.
Machine summary:
Iranian Rehabilitation Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 1, Spring 2015 Original Article Self Stigma among People with Bipolar-I Disorder in Iran Gita Sadighi*; Mohammad Reza Khodaei; Farbod Fadai; Arash Mirabzadeh Social Determinants of Health Research Center University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences ,Tehran, Iran Alireza Sadighi University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA Psychiatric stigma refers to systemic and internalized stereotypical negative attitudes against individual with mental illness.
This article describes the level of self stigma, stereotype endorsement and perceived discrimination experienced by patients with Bipolar- I disorder in Tehran.
Methods: Data were collected from a total of 126 patients with Bipolar-- I disorder who responded to acute phase treatment using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale.
The ISMI scale has five subscales: Alienation, Stereotype Endorsement, Perceived Discrimination, Social Withdrawal and Stigma Resistance.
Twenty nine items are grouped into five subscales: Alienation, Stereotype Endorsement, Perceived Discrimination, Social Withdrawal and Stigma Resistance.
Comparison of Internalized Stigma of Bipolar- I disorder Subscales in Tehran and Europe * Data from (Brohen et al) Table (4) presents the results of grouping ISMI, SR and subscales scores regarding the minimal, low, moderate and high categories.
16 Discussion It seems that despite increasing studies about self- stigma in patients with schizophrenia, little researches have done to evaluate internalized stigma in subjects with Bipolar- I disorder.
(2010) study who evaluated the internalized stigma of Mental Illness Scale in 13 European countries , the degree of self-stigma were high in Iran (18).