Get Involved: Addressing Stigma
Stigma is a significant barrier to treatment for individuals experiencing first episode psychosis. Addressing stigma can help increase early treatment and improve outcomes for people experiencing first-episode psychosis.
People with first episode psychosis may experience different forms of stigma including:
Public Stigma – public beliefs that include stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination against people with FEP. Employers may fail to hire or provide reasonable accommodations to people with a mental health condition.
Self-Stigma – people with a mental health condition may internalize those publicly held beliefs and suffer diminished self-esteem, self-efficacy, and confidence in their future.
Label Avoidance – people with a mental health condition may avoid evaluation and treatment services so they are not labeled. This creates a significant barrier to seeking care and participating in ongoing services.
Family or Courtesy Stigma – family members of a person with a mental health condition may experience stigma as well. Parents may be blamed for causing a stigmatized condition and children may experience stigma based on their parent’s condition.
Youth with FEP may be more concerned stigma’s impact in different areas:
- school and how teachers, classmates, and friends react;
- relationships, especially as the person enters the dating scene; and
- extended family and how to let them know about the challenges of FEP.
Personal empowerment can help address self-stigma. Being empowered means having control over one’s treatment and life. People with a strong sense of personal empowerment have high self-efficacy and self-esteem and take an active role in their recovery.
Communities and health service providers can play a role in addressing self-stigma by fostering personal empowerment and adopting a collaborative approach to treatment planning and seeking shared decision-making.
Use person-first language. Avoid using stigmatizing language like “crazy” or “insane” as those terms can perpetuate negative stereotypes. Instead, using person-first language, such as “a person experiencing psychosis,” can help reduce stigma and promote understanding. “Treatment noncompliance” can be replaced with the less combative term “treatment adherence.”
Check out NAMI’s Schizophrenia and Psychosis Lexicon Guide for specific guidance regarding terminology related to schizophrenia and psychosis or visit StigmaFreeWV.org.
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