Stigma and mental illness: A review and critique

Research on the extent and nature of psychiatric stigma is reviewed, with a goal of offering insights useful to the practising clinician. Many findings support the view that a label of psychiatric illness is stigmatising, but the effects of this stigma in practice seem to be complex. A number of factors, including age, sex and experience of psychiatric patients seem to affect levels of stigma, and selfstigmatisation also seems to be variable in its effects. Possible causes of stigma and approaches to combatting it are also discussed.