Stigma and Health, Vol 11(2), May 2026, 199; doi:10.1037/sah0000608
Over the past year, the author and their Israeli colleagues have faced increasing academic boycotts. Clearly, there is a profound difference between stigmatization of people with mental illness and academic boycotts. Both divide people through the same predatory mechanisms of labeling, generalizing, and exploiting power differences—and both lead to the same outcome: reduced opportunities for individuals solely because of their association with a “labeled” group. Ultimately, being subject to a boycott is a reminder of how vulnerable we all are to shifting sociopolitical climates and how quickly a person’s worth can be redefined and unfortunately reduced to one characteristic—a citizen of a specific country. In these challenging times—particularly in the mental health field—it is crucial that we hold fast to our guiding principles: engaging with each other as individuals based on our research and professionalism rather than on the narrow labels imposed on us by our nationality, religion, race, sexual orientation, or identity politics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)