Stigma and Health, Vol 9(2), May 2024, 135-148; doi:10.1037/sah0000355
Eating disorders (EDs) are often perceived as behavioral choices and less severe than other mental disorders and also carry mental illness stigma. The present research examined whether empathy can sensitize for the impairment individuals with EDs experience and reduce the perception that they are to blame for their conditions without increasing the effects of mental illness stigma. We hypothesized that a focus on either the psychopathology or the psychosocial consequences of EDs would increase perceived impairment and reduce perceptions of responsibility but that a focus on their psychopathology would increase attitudes related to mental illness stigma, that is, distrust and a desire for social distance. In an online experiment using vignettes, 746 participants (81.90% female; mean age = 33.75 years) were randomly assigned to different ED and empathy conditions. The study design was a 3 (ED: anorexia nervosa [AN], bulimia nervosa [BN], binge eating disorder [BED]) × 3 (empathy condition: psychopathology, psychosocial consequences, control condition) pretest–posttest between-subjects design. For AN and BN, both empathy conditions increased perceptions of psychosocial impairment, but failed to reduce perceptions of responsibility. However, for AN, exploratory analyses indicated a reduction of responsibility perceptions in both the control and psychosocial consequences condition. For BED, only a focus on its psychosocial consequences increased perceptions of psychosocial impairment but both empathy conditions reduced responsibility perceptions. A focus on the psychopathology of EDs did not increase stigmatizing attitudes related to mental illness stigma. Together, empathy seems to be a promising approach to improve attitudes toward individuals with EDs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)