Personality Factors Crucial in Internalized Stigma Understanding in Psychiatry

Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of this research was to establish the relationship between personality traits and internalized stigma in individuals living with severe mental illness. Additionally, the study aimed to identify individual differences that could be used to develop the theoretical socio-cognitive-behavioral equation model of internalized stigma. Methods: A total of 114 patients with diagnosis of nonorganic psychotic disorder or uni- or bipolar affective disorder took part in this study. The Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) were administrated among all participants. Results: Patients presenting higher levels of neuroticism scored higher on the ISMI scale. Otherwise, those with higher levels of extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness had lower ISMI scores. With the use of multivariate linear regression, neuroticism, openness to experience and conscientiousness showed the strongest associations with internalized stigma. Conclusions: Intrapersonal factors such as personality traits might explain individual differences in responses to the stigmatization process. Moreover, sociodemographic conditions such as the place of residence and level of education can play a mediating role in reducing the level of internalized stigma. Adequate psychosocial interventions should consider demographics and personality traits when engaging patients with mental illnesses in activities aimed at understanding and accepting the disorders.

High internalized stigma among community‐dwelling patients with schizophrenia: Associations with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, personality traits and health‐related quality of life

“…These findings extend prior work with consumers suffering from mental illnesses (Szcześniak et al . 2021). Based on the Big Five model (Costa & McCrae 1992), individuals with more extraversion (e.g., keep active), openness to experience (e.g., intellectual curiosity), conscientiousness (e.g., undertake goal‐oriented actions) and agreeableness (e.g., cooperate with others) are inclined to positively react to stressful circumstances, and in turn, experienced lower internalized stigma.…”

“…2015; Szcześniak et al . 2021). Given that personality traits have been consistently linked to schizophrenia, evidence regarding the magnitude of personality traits associated with internalized stigma in schizophrenia is required to solidify the existing works.…”

Hide and seek – the role of personality, sense of coherence and experiential information in hidden information needs

“…It is, therefore, not surprising that negative emotionality is strongly related to feelings of shame (Abe, 2004;Christensen et al, 1993;Einstein and Lanning, 1998;Muris et al, 2018;Zhong et al, 2003Zhong et al, , 2008. Self-stigma has also been positively linked with negative emotionality (Bassirnia et al, 2015;Lee et al, 2016;Szcze sniak et al, 2021). This is reflected in studies demonstrating that proneness to shame spurs feelings of anxiety, depression, self-consciousness and worry (Cândea and Szentagotai-T atar, 2018;Sullivan et al, 2020;Tangney, 1991;Williamson et al, 2020).…”

“…This reflection and, at times overthinking, could result in more feelings of shame. Introversion has similarly been positively linked with self-stigma (Lee et al, 2016;Szcze sniak et al, 2021). Based on the tendency of extraverts to self-disclose more and feel less shame, we developed the following hypothesis:…”

“…People with high openness are tolerant and open-minded. This manifests in less prejudice and stigmatising attitudes towards others (Brown, 2012;Ingram et al, 2016;Zaniotto et al, 2020;Solmi et al, 2020;Yuan et al, 2018) as well as less self-stigma (Szcze sniak et al, 2021). Research has demonstrated a negative association between openness to experience and shame (Erden and Akba g, 2015).…”