Stigma and Non-Disclosure in Psychiatric Patients from a Southeast Asian Hospital

Abstract

Objective: We compared stigma experienced by psychiatric patients and controls in various social domains and hypothesized higher levels of stigma and higher rates of non-disclosure by psychiatric patients. Methods: Psychiatric outpatients and a control group of medical outpatients were assessed for experienced discrimination through a structured questionnaire that included adapted items from the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC-12). Controls were assessed on discrimination related to physical, rather than mental health issues. Statistical analyses were conducted with Pearson's chi-squared tests and one-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA). Results: In total, 202 patients comprising 99 psychiatric patients and 103 controls gave consent to the study. Psychiatric patients experienced higher levels of discrimination (F (1, 196) = 24.4, p < 0.001), and in more areas of life (F (1, 196) = 22.5, p < 0.001) than controls. Compared to controls, a higher proportion of psychiatric patients practised non-disclosure of their illness. Conclusion: Our study confirmed that psychiatric patients experienced considerable stigma and coped by non-disclosure of their condition.

Internalized stigma, disclosure and self-esteem among psychiatric patients in a general hospital outpatient clinic

“…10,14 It was reported that marriage had a positive effect on psychiatric patients’ self-esteem, with the view that spouses provided emotional support, thus mitigating the effect of stigma. 15 Our present data also suggested that older subjects had better self-esteem and was consistent with other studies, which demonstrated increase in self-esteem with age. 16 Our present findings also seemed to suggest that religious affiliation conferred beneficial effects on self-esteem.…”

Deliberate self-harm among adolescent psychiatric outpatients in Singapore: prevalence, nature and risk factors

“…Further, the lack of association between DSH and a positive family history of psychiatric disorder may also be attributed to the lack of accurate report from the adolescent patient. Because of the stigma and common misperceptions towards mental illness in Singapore, many individuals cope by withholding information to avoid discrimination [ 28 ]; this may mask the presence of mental illness in some families. Future studies would benefit from the use of more sensitive indicators to investigate DSH and its associations with social and familial stressors and supports.…”

“What’s the best way to document information concerning psychiatric patients? I just don’t know”—A qualitative study about recording psychiatric patients notes in the era of electronic health records

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) states that mental disorders affect one in four people but psychiatric conditions are still considered as “not normal”, or somewhat deviant from the norm in most societies, and many people are ashamed to have mental health issues. For this reason a high proportion of psychiatric patients practise non-disclosure of their illness [ 4 ].…”