Stigma and the Psychiatric Patient Career

This study investigated the sequential changes in stigma expressed by psychiatric patients and those who share their stigma, and the patterns of convergences and divergences in stigmatizing attitudes held by these two classes of individuals. The experiences of the stigmatized were conceptualized as constituting a career, and a scale designed to assess stigma was administered to first-admission prepatients, inpatients, and postpatients, to their significant others, and to patients who had been rehospitalized. The propensity to stigmatize others of like situation was found to be greatest among inpatients of both first admission and readmission status. Postpatients showed significantly less stigma than did patients in any other phase of the career. Significant others were found to reject the mentally ill less than did patients, and were considerably more stable in their attitudes from phase to phase. Patients and their significant others showed the greatest degree of co-orientation during the postpatient phase of the patient career.