Quality of Life and Self-Stigma in Individuals with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Recent mental illness stigma research has almost exclusively studied community and family responses to the stigmas of mental illness. Too little has been done to understand the current subjective experience of psychiatric patients. Our study explores the influence of self-stigma on the quality of life of mentally disabled people. Participating in the survey were 100 people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Using Ritsher's internalized stigma of mental illness scale, which incorporates alienation, stereotype endorsement, discrimination experience, social withdrawal, and social resistance subscales, along with the standard SF-12, helped us evaluate the subjective experience of mental illness stigma. According to our survey data, self-stigma correlates negatively with all of the quality of life measures except the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness subscale's 'stigma resistance', which did not correlate significantly. Improved stigma resistance requires an understanding of one's sociocultural background and a strong social network to provide the sense of comfort and security that enables a fulfilling life.

Comparison of self-stigma and quality of life in patients with depressive disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders – a cross-sectional study

“…The fourth and principal hypothesis of this study was that “the patients with higher levels of self-stigma have a lower quality of life.” This hypothesis was confirmed; this being in agreement with the results of previous studies 13,30. Patients who self-stigmatize themselves more due to their mental disorder tend to regard themselves as inferior, incompetent at fulfilling their needs and roles, limited in their skills and general life functioning and unable to succeed in life.…”

“…Some studies point to a significant relationship between the QoL and self-stigma, showing that self-stigmatization leads to a lower QoL in patients with schizophrenia and also with depression 13,30. This study offers yet another slightly different comparison between the two aspects of well-being and their relationship in both groups.…”

Comparing Self-stigma Between People With Different Mental Disorders in Taiwan

“…In addition to many studies (e.g., Brohan et al, 2011;Tang and Wu, 2012;Ociskova et al, 2013) that separately examine the internalized stigma in people with different psychiatric diagnoses, our work extended the knowledge of internalized stigma to comparisons across patients with various psychiatric diagnoses. Also, in addition to the comparison results of a Western study (Drapalski et al, 2013), our study shed some light on the self-stigma comparison in the East.…”

“…This knowledge should help them decide on intervention programs that are more efficacious. Studies on populations with schizophrenia (Tang and Wu, 2012), mood disorder (Brohan et al, 2011), and anxiety disorder (Ociskova et al, 2013) suggest that these patients have internalized stigma. In addition, because internalized stigma refers to the process of an individual accepting public stigma (Livingston and Boyd, 2010), and those with different mental illnesses encounter different levels of public stigma (Ellison et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2013), people with different mental illnesses probably have different levels of internalized stigma.…”

Lung Cancer Stigma, Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life

“…One study among patients with schizophrenia found that high SR was positively correlated with higher self-esteem, empowerment and QOL, and negatively associated with more stigma and depression (Sibitz, Unger, Woppmann, Zidek, & Amering, 2011). In another sample, however, associations between SR and QOL were not observed (Tang & Wu, 2012). One prior study indicated that robust and stable social networks promote SR (Sibitz et al, 2011).…”