The case presented is a several-month study of the stigmatization of a 70-year old woman, Anna Maria T. Stigmatization, the spontaneous appearance on a person’s body of Christ’s wounds on the Cross, is a wellknown phenomenon among Catholics, while in this century it has also appeared in Protestants. The phenomenon has long been considered mysterious and miraculous. After first excluding the pos...

BACKGROUND: Individuals suffering from mental disorder have to deal with both symptoms of their disorders and with stigmatizing attitudes and acts. A particular risk represents internalized stigma, which negatively influences psychological well-being of patients, as well as treatment efficiency. Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and their family members might be exposed to stigm...

This questionnaire survey was conducted to study the determinants of stigmatization toward schizophrenia in Japan. A total of 1003 persons living in Kumamoto Prefecture (mean age 25.5; SD=14.1) participated in this study through convenience sampling. They read one of four case vignettes about a person with mental illness and answered questions about their attitudes toward the case. Vignettes va...

The stigmatization of the mentally ill is called the first barrier hampering their treatment and recovery: it leads to the rejection of such individuals, their discrimination and exclusion from participation in various areas of social life. It becomes particularly significant if the patients encounter this attitude among doctors, nurses and others healthcare professionals. The literature descri...

People diagnosed with mental disorders, particularly those with schizophrenia, are severely stigmatized (1, 2). The image of people with mental disorders is strongly influenced by the mass media, which are then influenced by the prevailing medical opinion as well as by current research results. Therefore, researchers in psychiatry bear a certain responsibility for the stigmatization of their ve...

Substantial research has focused on stigmatized groups who are widely protected from discrimination under national legislation. In the current article, however, we focus our attention on those stigmatized groups who are relatively early in their quest for civil rights. In particular, we consider gay and lesbian individuals, and heavy individuals, for whom existing research is considerable enoug...