Mental illness stigma and suicidality: the role of public and individual stigma

Abstract

In general, programmes addressing multiple stigma components seem to be most effective in improving suicide prevention. Besides interventions targeting negative attitudes and discriminating behaviours of the general public, programmes to support persons with mental illness in coping with perceived and experienced stigma could improve suicide prevention. Future studies should test the short- and long-term effects of such interventions on suicidality and further investigate the role of stigma coping (e.g. secrecy) and emotional consequences (e.g. hopelessness and loneliness) for the association between stigma components and suicidality.

Suicidal behavior in problematic substance uses in South Gondar zone, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional survey

“…Feeling sense of stigmatized by the public may get one's life wired and boring that results suicidal behavior. However, this result was inconsistent with study in southern Germany [48]. The possible reason might be a result of psychological distress and failure of being accepted by mainstream society [49].…”

Trajectories and mental health-related predictors of perceived discrimination and stigma among homeless adults with mental illness

“…Although death by suicide is quite common among homeless people [54][55][56][57], no previous studies have examined suicidality as a predictor of health-related discrimination and stigma trajectories in this population. Studies carried out in the general population or subgroups of people with mental illness and those from social minorities, have found general stigma and mental health-related stigma to be associated with suicidal ideation and high suicide risk [58][59][60][61]. Higher levels of prejudicial and stigmatizing attitudes have also been reported by individuals experiencing suicidal ideation or who have attempted suicide [59].…”

Self‐Stigma Mediates the Impact of Insight on Current Suicide Ideation in Suicide Attempters with Schizophrenia: Results of a Moderated Mediation Approach

“…Second, considering the concerns regarding temporal order in cross‐sectional analysis, particularly when testing a mediation model, our next work would be to examine the mediating role of self‐stigma and other factors between insight and suicidal behavior in the context of a longitudinal study (Maxwell, Cole, & Mitchell, ). Third, various risk factors for suicidal behavior in schizophrenia were examined as potential mediators in the present study, despite the existence of other mediators or moderators that are likely to play an important role in the association between insight and suicidal behavior; variables such as personality factors, coping styles, social‐cognition, and public stigma should thus be examined (Aukst Margetic et al., ; Barrett et al., ; Oexle, et al., ; Scocco et al., ). Finally, we were interested in testing a complex model in a multilevel analysis, which included several psychosocial factors; therefore, our power may have been limited in detecting all the hypothesized effects.…”

“…According to a systematic review (Boyd, Adler, Otilingam, & Peters, ; Livingston & Boyd, ) and meta‐analysis (Livingston & Boyd, ) of self‐stigma among individuals with schizophrenia, high levels of self‐stigma have been linked to increased depression as well as decreased hope, self‐esteem, and subjective quality of life (QoL). However, only a few studies have discussed the influence of self‐stigma on suicidality (Oexle et al., ; Oexle, Waldmann, Staiger, Xu, & Rüsch, ; Sharaf, Ossman, & Lachine, ). Increased self‐stigma predicted the risk of suicide among individuals with mental illness.…”