Perceived stigma definition
Perceived stigma refers to an individual’s sense of societal views of mental illness—how does society regard the mentally ill? The researchers found that both non- diagnosed community members and psychiatric patients perceived the social stigma of mental illness; the repeat-treatment patients reported the highest perceived stigma (Link et al. 1989). My research picks up where ▇▇▇▇ et al.’s study ends. I draw upon the concept of perceived stigma and personal stigma (▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ and ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, 2008) to refer to the individual’s own opinions of mental illness. Whereas perceived stigma is how an individual believes others stigmatize mental illness, personal stigma is how an individual stigmatizes mental illness himself. Previous research on perceived and personal stigma have focused on the correlation between perceived stigma and help-seeking tendencies, and the disparity between perceived and personal stigma (see, e.g., ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ et al. 2008 and ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ et. al 2009). My research will focus on whether or not there is a difference in perceived stigma and personal stigma amongst three groups: not mentally ill and not at risk; not mentally ill but at risk; and mentally ill. Will non-mentally ill but at risk individuals report higher personal and perceived stigmas than the diagnosed mentally ill and the non-mentally ill groups? If modern labeling theory affects those diagnosed with depression even if society does not know they are diagnosed, it is possible that those not diagnosed but at risk for depression could be affected by the label of depression simply by suffering the symptoms. Research on college students will lead to a better understanding of how labels affect individuals who are both diagnosed with a mental illness and at risk for a mental illness. My hypotheses are listed below:
Examples of Perceived stigma in a sentence
Perceived stigma can take an additional toll on these individuals in the form of a chronic stressor [55-57].