Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 6 July 2011
Annemarie, Wright , Anthony F., Jorm , Andrew J., Mackinnon
Mental disorders are common in young people, yet many do not seek help. The use of psychiatric labels to describe mental disorders is associated with effective help-seeking choices, and is promoted in community awareness initiatives designed to improve help-seeking. However these labels may also be coupled with stigmatizing beliefs and therefore inhibit help-seeking: lay mental health or non-specific labels may be less harmful. We examined the association between labeling of mental disorders and stigma in youth using data from a national telephone survey of 2802 Australians aged 12-25 years conducted from June to August 2006. Label use and stigmatizing beliefs…
Highlights: ► Examines commonly used labels for mental disorders and stigma in a national sample of Australian young people. ► Accurate psychiatric labels were associated with reduced perceptions of weakness and rarely associated with other stigma. ► Accurate and lay mental health labels were associated with perceived dangerousness and unpredictability for psychosis only. ► Provides new insights into this contested area by focusing on unprompted labeling and a range of stigma components. ► The benefits of accurate psychiatric labeling for help-seeking are unlikely to be hindered by stigma in most instances.