The psychiatrist's role in addressing stigma and discrimination.

The Board of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) established a Stigma–Discrimination Working Group (SDWG) in the fall of 2007 with a mandate to explore and advise the CPA on priorities for addressing stigma and discrimination within the scope of the CPA’s sphere of influence. The SDWG was further advised to ensure its work was evidenced-based, and was mandated to guide and lead the implementation of the CPA’s interventions aimed at improved quality of care and reducing the stigmatizing attitudes and discrimination experienced by patients and their families, colleagues, and members of the psychiatric profession, as well as to reduce the stigmatizing attitudes within the medical profession. As specialists in mental health and in the treatment of mental illness, psychiatrists can make an important contribution to society by improving the care provided by our profession.