Stigma experiences in bipolar patients: the impact upon functioning

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of self-rated stigma and functioning in patients with bipolar disorder in South Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study. Sixty participants with bipolar disorder were recruited from an outpatient Bipolar Disorder Program. Experiences with and impact of perceived stigma were evaluated using the Inventory of Stigmatizing Experiences. Functional impairment was assessed with the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST). Higher scores of self-perceived stigma were correlated with higher FAST scores, indicating more disability. After linear correlation analysis, current depressive symptoms, age at onset of treatment, age at diagnosis and functioning were correlated with self-perceived stigma. The study demonstrated a correlation between stigma and poor functioning in bipolar disorder. Perceived stigma is really important to individuals with bipolar disorder, both to how they experience their illness and to its results on functioning. Potential consequences of such results for mental health care professionals are discussed. Differential clinical features, sociocultural factors and the sample size limit the generalization of the present findings.

Residual symptoms and specific functional impairments in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder

“…One of our most important findings is that some residual symptoms have an impact on specific functional domains, a finding only outlined for residual depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, and stigma in previous studies. In particular, residual depressive symptoms were found to be strongly associated with impairments in interpersonal and occupational functioning (45,46), cognitive dysfunction with impairments in cognitive and professional functioning (47), and stigma with impairments in interpersonal, cognitive, and leisure functioning (26,48,49). More generally, we found that some residual symptoms were associated with a characteristic pattern of functional impairment.…”

Living with Stigma: Depressed Elderly Persons’ Experiences of Physical Health Problems

“…Stigma is an expression of people's responses to individuals who possess some undesirable characteristics. It can be discrediting and involve prejudicial and discriminatory practices [32, 33]. In several studies stigma has been found to reduce social functioning [34, 35].…”

“…Being treated as a person who cannot be trusted can increase the feeling of inferiority and shame. Thomé et al [33] demonstrated a correlation between stigma and poor functioning in bipolar disorder. Perceived stigma played a significant role in how the participants experienced their illness.…”

Exploring stigmatisation among people diagnosed with either bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder: A critical realist analysis

“…Whilst the general public endorse stigmatising attitudes towards people with BD (Wolkenstein and Meyer, 2008), few studies have focused exclusively on this diagnosis and stigma, or examined stigma experiences of people diagnosed with it (Brohan et al, 2010a;Hayward et al, 2002;Kelly and Jorm, 2007). However, perceived stigma is high amongst people with the diagnosis (Brohan et al, 2010b) and is associated with lower self-esteem in depressive episodes (Hayward et al, 2002), low autonomy, workplace difficulties, poor cognitive functioning, adverse financial issues, fewer interpersonal relationships (Thome et al, 2012;V azquez et al, 2011) and increased avoidance of social interactions . Having a mood disorder is also associated with an increased likelihood of endorsing stigma as a barrier to help-seeking (Alvidrez and Azocar, 1999).…”