Explicit and implicit stigma towards peers with mental health problems in childhood and adolescence

Background: Children and adolescents with mental health problems are widely reported to have problems with peer relationships; however, few studies have explored the way in which these children are regarded by their peers. For example, little is known about the nature of peer stigmatisation, and no published research has investigated implicit attitudes thus ensuring that stigma is not well understood. To address this issue, the current study explored patterns of explicit and implicit stigmatisation of peers with depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: The sample was 385 children (M = 10.21 years) and adolescents (M = 15.36 years). Participants completed a questionnaire assessing explicit stigma towards an age‐ and gender‐matched peer with ADHD or depression and another peer with ‘normal issues’ who were described in vignettes. They also completed a modified version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) that explored implicit attitudes towards the target peers. Results: Questionnaire data indicated that the peer with ADHD was perceived more negatively than the peer with depression on all dimensions of stigma, except perceived dangerousness and fear. In contrast, the IAT findings suggest that some participants had more negative views of the peer with depression than the peer with ADHD. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that adolescent males demonstrated significantly stronger negative implicit evaluations of depression compared with younger males and adolescent females. Conclusions: Children and adolescents demonstrate stigmatising responses to peers with common mental health problems. The nature and extent of these responses depends on the type of problem and the type of measurement used. The findings highlight the importance of using both explicit and implicit measures of stigma.     

炎症性肠病患者病耻感体验的质性研究

目的探索炎症性肠病患者的病耻感体验,揭示患者的病耻感经历及其影响因素,为医护人员开展针对性心理护理提供理论依据。方法采用目的抽样法,选取2017年3月—2019年7月在浙江省3家三级甲等医院消化内科门诊就诊和病房住院的16例炎症性肠病患者为研究对象,采用描述性质性研究的方法,对患者进行面对面半结构式访谈,运用传统内容分析法分析资料。结果分析得出炎症性肠病患者病耻感体验的4个主题,分别为感知病耻感、实际病耻感、内化病耻感及影响病耻感产生的因素。结论受疾病、治疗、自身心理状态及社会风俗文化等因素的影响,多数炎症性肠病患者确诊疾病后存在病耻感体验,但其具体表现形式及程度存在差异。医护人员应在了解患者病耻感体验的基础上,提供个体化的照护,并给予可行的病耻感应对策略。     

Psychosocial impact of COVID-19

BackgroundAlong with its high infectivity and fatality rates, the 2019 Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) has caused universal psychosocial impact by causing mass hysteria, economic burden and financial losses. Mass fear of COVID-19, termed as “coronaphobia”, has generated a plethora of psychiatric manifestations across the different strata of the society. So, this review has been undertaken to define psychosocial impact of COVID-19.MethodsPubmed and GoogleScholar are searched with the following key terms- “COVID-19”, “SARS-CoV2”, “Pandemic”, “Psychology”, “Psychosocial”, “Psychitry”, “marginalized”, “telemedicine”, “mental health”, “quarantine”, “infodemic”, “social media” and” “internet”. Few news paper reports related to COVID-19 and psychosocial impacts have also been added as per context.ResultsDisease itself multiplied by forced quarantine to combat COVID-19 applied by nationwide lockdowns can produce acute panic, anxiety, obsessive behaviors, hoarding, paranoia, and depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the long run. These have been fueled by an “infodemic” spread via different platforms of social media. Outbursts of racism, stigmatization, and xenophobia against particular communities are also being widely reported. Nevertheless, frontline healthcare workers are at higher-risk of contracting the disease as well as experiencing adverse psychological outcomes in form of burnout, anxiety, fear of transmitting infection, feeling of incompatibility, depression, increased substance-dependence, and PTSD. Community-based mitigation programs to combat COVID-19 will disrupt children’s usual lifestyle and may cause florid mental distress. The psychosocial aspects of older people, their caregivers, psychiatric patients and marginalized communities are affected by this pandemic in different ways and need special attention.ConclusionFor better dealing with these psychosocial issues of different strata of the society, psychosocial crisis prevention and intervention models should be urgently developed by the government, health care personnel and other stakeholders. Apt application of internet services, technology and social media to curb both pandemic and infodemic needs to be instigated. Psychosocial preparedness by setting up mental organizations specific for future pandemics is certainly necessary.     

Stigma and drug use settings as correlates of self-reported,non-fatal overdose among people who use drugs in Baltimore,Maryland

BackgroundFatalities from opioid overdose quadrupled during the last 15 years as illicit opioid use increased. This study assesses how stigma and drug use settings are associated with non-fatal overdose to identify targets for overdose risk reduction interventions and inform overdose education and naloxone distribution programs.MethodsWe surveyed 444 people who used drugs in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, from 2009 to 2013 as part of a randomized clinical trial of a harm reduction intervention. Participants reported demographic characteristics, drug use, overdose history, use of a local syringe services program, involvement in the local drug economy, and whether they experienced discrimination from others (i.e., enacted stigma) or stigmatized themselves (i.e., internalized stigma) related to their drug use. We used multinomial logistic regression models to identify correlates of experiencing a non-fatal overdose within the past year or >1 year ago relative to participants who never experienced an overdose.ResultsStigma was positively associated with experiencing a non-fatal overdose in the past year (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR]: 1.7, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.1–2.7) and >1 year ago (aOR [95% CI]: 1.5 [1.1–2.0]) after adjustment for demographic and substance use characteristics. The association of stigma with overdose was stronger for enacted versus internalized stigma. The number of public settings (shooting gallery, crack house, abandoned building, public bathroom, outside) where participants used drugs was also positively associated with experiencing an overdose.ConclusionsStigma related to drug use and using drugs in more settings may increase overdose risk. The effectiveness of overdose prevention and naloxone training may be improved by reducing discrimination against people who use drugs in community and medical settings and diversifying the settings in which overdose prevention trainings are delivered. These efforts may be enhanced by use of peer outreach approaches in which people who use drugs diffuse prevention messages through their social networks and within settings of drug consumption outside the medical setting.     

Background factors in people living with HIV in Japan who switch to cabotegravir plus rilpivirine: A pilot study

Long-acting therapy of cabotegravir and rilpivirine is expected to free people from the negative emotions of living with HIV associated with taking drugs, but problems such as increased number of hospital visits, lack of anti-HBV activity, and limited convenience in people with concomitant drugs have been noted. In this single-center, prospective, cross-sectional study, we investigated background factors of people living with HIV in Japan who chose cabotegravir plus rilpivirine. Forty-seven percent (36 of 76) of individuals chose this regimen, but many people living with HIV who visited the hospital once every 3 months or needed concomitant medications due to complications chose this regimen and there were no significant differences in background factors that could affect convenience between the groups of those who switched and those who did not.     

Residual stigma: psychological distress among the formerly overweight

Little is known about the psychological state of those who leave a stigmatized group. We examined individuals who previously belonged to a stigmatized group, the overweight, and then became normal weight. Negative stereotypes, including those relating to obesity, are internalized from the time of childhood onward; therefore, it was assumed they would become lingering self-stereotypes among individuals who were no longer externally targeted. Drawing on a nationally representative sample, we examined for the first time whether formerly overweight individuals are susceptible to any anxiety disorder, any depressive disorder, and suicide attempts. As predicted, the likelihood of any anxiety disorder and any depressive disorder for the formerly overweight group was significantly greater than for the consistently normal-weight group, and not significantly different from the consistently overweight group. Further, the formerly overweight group was significantly more likely to attempt suicide than the other groups. Also as predicted, perceived weight discrimination partially mediated the relationship between weight status and these outcomes. The cohort consisted of 33,604 participants in the United States. The results suggest that losing a self-image shaped by stigma is a more protracted process than losing weight.     

Addiction, agency, and the politics of self-control: doing harm reduction in a heroin users' group

Our 2007-2009 ethnography describes and analyses the practice of harm reduction in a heroin users' group in the midwestern United States. While dominant addiction interventions conceptualize the addict as powerless - either through moral or physical weakness - this group contested such "commonsense," treating illicit drug use as one of many ways that modern individuals attempt to "fill the void." Insisting on the destigmatization of addiction and the normalization of illicit drug use, the group helped its members work on incremental steps toward self-management. Although "Connection Points" had very limited resources to improve the lives of its members, our work suggests that the users' group did much to restore self-respect, rational subjectivity, and autonomy to a group historically represented as incapable of reason and self-control. As the users cohered as a community, they developed a critique of the oppressions suffered by "junkies," discussed their rights and entitlements, and even planned the occasional political action. Engaging with literature on the cultural construction of agency and responsibility, we consider, but ultimately complicate, the conceptualization of needle exchange as a "neoliberal" form of population management. Within the context of the United States' War on Drugs, the group's work on destigmatization, health education, and the practice of incremental control showed the potential for reassertions of social citizenship within highly marginal spaces.     

Adapting the minority stress model: associations between gender non-conformity stigma, HIV-related stigma and depression among men who have sex with men in South India

Marginalization and stigmatization heighten the vulnerability of sexual minorities to inequitable mental health outcomes. There is a dearth of information regarding stigma and mental health among men who have sex with men (MSM) in India. We adapted Meyer's minority stress model to explore associations between stigma and depression among MSM in South India. The study objective was to examine the influence of sexual stigma, gender non-conformity stigma (GNS) and HIV-related stigma (HIV-S) on depression among MSM in South India. A cross-sectional survey was administered to MSM in urban (Chennai) (n=100) and semi-urban (Kumbakonam) (n=100) locations in Tamil Nadu. The majority of participants reported moderate/severe depression scores. Participants in Chennai reported significantly higher levels of GNS, social support and resilient coping, and lower levels of HIV-S and depression, than participants in Kumbakonam. Hierarchical block regression analyses were conducted to measure associations between independent (GNS, HIV-S), moderator (social support, resilient coping) and dependent (depression) variables. Sexual stigma was not included in regression analyses due to multicollinearity with GNS. The first regression analyses assessed associations between depression and stigma subtypes. In Chennai, perceived GNS was associated with depression; in Kumbakonam enacted/perceived GNS and vicarious HIV-S were associated with depression. In the moderation analyses, overall GNS and HIV-S scores (subtypes combined) accounted for a significant amount of variability in depression in both locations, although HIV-S was only a significant predictor in Kumbakonam. Social support and resilient coping were associated with lower depression but did not moderate the influence of HIV-S or GNS on depression. Differences in stigma, coping, social support and depression between locations highlight the salience of considering geographical context in stigma analyses. Associations between HIV-S and depression among HIV-negative MSM emphasize the significance of symbolic stigma. Findings may inform multi-level stigma reduction and health promotion interventions with MSM in South India.     

精神分裂症患者康复期心理状态与耻感、应对方式及社会支持的关系

目的 探讨精神分裂症患者康复期心理状态与耻感、应对方式及社会支持之间的关系,为康复干预方案的制定提供参考.方法 选择2015年1～12月在精神病医院住院治疗的178例恢复期精神分裂症患者作为研究对象,根据卡尔加里精神分裂症抑郁量表(CDSS)评分将其分为抑郁组(54例)和非抑郁组(124例),采用精神病患者病耻感评估量表、应对方式量表和社会支持量表分别对两组患者进行调查,分析其各量表得分差异,以及抑郁评分和各量表得分之间的相关性.结果 抑郁组和非抑郁组患者在年龄、性别比例、病程等一般资料方面比较差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05);抑郁组患者病耻感中社交因子、能力因子评分以总评分均明显高于非抑郁组;积极应对评分明显低于非抑郁组,而消极应对评分明显高于非抑郁组;抑郁组患者社会支持各方面评分以及总分均明显低于非抑郁组患者.相关性分析表明抑郁心理与患者病耻感评分呈正相关(P＜0.05);消极应对与抑郁呈正相关(P＜0.05),积极应对与抑郁呈负相关(P＜0.05);社会支持各方面评分均与抑郁呈负相关(P＜0.05).结论 精神分裂症患者康复期抑郁心理状态与耻感呈正相关,与消极应对方式呈正相关,与社会支持呈负相关.