Mental illness, problem, disorder, distress: Does terminology matter when measuring stigma?

Fox, Annie B.; Vogt, Dawne; Boyd, Jennifer E.; Earnshaw, Valerie A.; Janio, Emily A.; Davis, Katelyn; Eikey, Elizabeth V.; Schneider, Margaret; Schueller, Stephen M.; Stadnick, Nicole A.; Zheng, Kai; Mukamel, Dana B.; Sorkin, Dara H.

doi:10.1037/sah0000329

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Our findings indicate that laypeople do not meaningfully differentiate between several prominent labels and instead treat them as interchangeable. This conclusion is also compatible with the recent finding that alternative terms had little or no impact on stigma or the association between stigma and key outcomes [ 29 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

What is a mental disorder? Evaluating the lay concept of Mental Ill Health in the United States

Tse

Haslam

2023

BMC Psychiatry

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Purpose How “mental disorder” should be defined has been the focus of extensive theoretical and philosophical debate, but how the concept is understood by laypeople has received much less attention. The study aimed to examine the content (distinctive features and inclusiveness) of these concepts, their degree of correspondence to the DSM-5 definition, and whether alternative concept labels (“mental disorder”, “mental illness”, “mental health problem”, “psychological issue”) have similar or different meanings. Methods We investigated concepts of mental disorder in a nationally representative sample of 600 U.S. residents. Subsets of participants made judgments about vignettes describing people with 37 DSM-5 disorders and 24 non-DSM phenomena including neurological conditions, character flaws, bad habits, and culture-specific syndromes. Results Findings indicated that concepts of mental disorder were primarily based on judgments that a condition is associated with emotional distress and impairment, and that it is rare and aberrant. Disorder judgments were only weakly associated with the DSM-5: many DSM-5 conditions were not judged to be disorders and many non-DSM conditions were so judged. “Mental disorder”, “mental illness”, and “mental health problem” were effectively identical in meaning, but “psychological issue” was somewhat more inclusive, capturing a broader range of conditions. Conclusion These findings clarify important issues surrounding how laypeople conceptualize mental disorder. Our findings point to some significant points of disagreement between professional and public understandings of disorder, while also establishing that laypeople’s concepts of mental disorder are systematic and structured.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

What is a mental disorder? Evaluating the lay concept of Mental Ill Health in the United States

Tse

Haslam

2023

BMC Psychiatry

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“…However, this term could sound too severe or clinical for some, calling up stigma, and overlooking strengths and wellness. This finding resonates with other studies in the literature that have found the term mental illness to be associated with stigma, according to members of the general public (Fox et al, 2021;Granello & Gibbs, 2016). Our results in this area also link to other findings that suggest that mental illness is used most commonly by people with mental health problems (Fox et al, 2021).…”

Section: Mental Illnesssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…This finding resonates with other studies in the literature that have found the term mental illness to be associated with stigma, according to members of the general public (Fox et al, 2021;Granello & Gibbs, 2016). Our results in this area also link to other findings that suggest that mental illness is used most commonly by people with mental health problems (Fox et al, 2021). However, our study looks beyond assessing stigma levels in different terms and more broadly examines different reasonings provided for preferred or nonpreferred terms aside from stigma.…”

Section: Mental Illnesssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Furthermore, terms like psychiatric disability might not always be used commonly, but could still be helpful for use with medical insurance companies or housing resources. These findings affirmed previous disagreement around terminology preferences in the literature among mental health professionals, people with SMI, as well as the general public (Fox et al, 2021;Lasalvia et al, 2015;Lynch et al, 1993), and the importance of checking with people with mental health problems about their own preferences (Dickens & Picchioni, 2012;Lasalvia et al, 2015). The present study added to the literature by clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of each term across different participants and revealing the tendency for each participant to rotate a range of terms depending on the context in which the term is used, the stage of the person's identity development and acceptance of the condition, or the person's values with regard to social justice and experiences with intersectional stigma.…”

Section: Different Terms For Different Times and Contextssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…Last, a large quantitative study investigated the preferred terminology of people with SMI for their mental health conditions when used on different mental health and stigma scales (Fox et al, 2021). This study surveyed the attitudes of 3,367 participants with a current or past history of mental illness.…”

Section: Literature On Preferred Terminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Preferred terminology of people with serious mental illness.

Mizock

Dilts

Sotilleo

et al. 2024

Psychological Services

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People with serious mental illnesses (SMIs) have argued for name changes for their conditions given problems with oversimplification, stigma, and social exclusion. There is a need to better understand the terminology preferences of people with SMI. The present two-part qualitative study analyzed data regarding participant preferences and evaluations of different labels for SMIs using qualitative data analysis methodologies of grounded theory and content analysis. The range of names identified by people with SMI in the present qualitative interviews and the positive and negative evaluations of the different labels are presented. Results were integrated across Study 1 and Study 2 to identify the following preferred and nonpreferred terms for these mental health problems; mental illness, diagnosis, disorder, psychiatric disability, person in recovery, person with lived experience, mental health challenges/issues, chemical imbalance, symptom names, and self-constructed labels. These results suggest the need to identify and reflect the terminology preferences of each individual with mental health problems when seeking psychological services and recognize the varying benefits of different terms depending on time and context. Impact StatementThis study identifies terminology preferences for people with serious mental illness, an underserved group, and helps clarify best practices for providers of psychological services and investigating and reflecting terminology preferences for this population to reduce stigma, and promote recovery-oriented care practices in supporting their self-determination and empowerment.

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The power of knowledge: How mental health literacy can overcome barriers to seeking help.

Lien,

Chen,

Cai

et al. 2024

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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Mental health literacy (MHL) predicts help-seeking attitudes. However, the relationship between components of MHL and help-seeking attitudes has not been thoroughly examined. This study aims to examine whether mental illness stigma, help-seeking efficacy, and maintenance of positive mental health mediated the relationship between recognition of mental disorders and help-seeking attitudes, using a meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) approach. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to gather relevant studies (111 articles with 118 independent samples), and their data (k = 185) were analyzed using MASEM. Reducing mental illness stigma or increasing help-seeking efficacy may be effective strategies for promoting help-seeking behaviors among individuals who recognize mental disorders, while the maintenance of positive mental health did not significantly mediate the relationship between recognition of mental disorders and help-seeking attitudes. These findings suggest that reducing stigma or increasing help-seeking efficacy may be an effective strategy for promoting help-seeking behaviors among individuals who can identify mental disorders. The use of MASEM in this study highlights the importance of integrating multiple studies to understand the complex relationship between MHL components and help-seeking attitudes.

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Mental illness, problem, disorder, distress: Does terminology matter when measuring stigma?

Cited by 6 publications

References 38 publications

What is a mental disorder? Evaluating the lay concept of Mental Ill Health in the United States

What is a mental disorder? Evaluating the lay concept of Mental Ill Health in the United States

Preferred terminology of people with serious mental illness.

The power of knowledge: How mental health literacy can overcome barriers to seeking help.

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