Stigma Research Fidings

Selection of Stigma Research Study Findings

Hajizadeh, A., Amini, H., Heydari, M. et al. How to combat stigma surrounding mental health disorders: a scoping review of the experiences of different stakeholders. BMC Psychiatry 24, 782 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06220-1

This review summarizes qualitative research of stakeholders’ experiences for combating stigma surrounding mental health disorders. The authors review studies examining the effects of stigma across countries, disorders, and stakeholders (e.g., individuals with mental health disorders, family members, health care providers, the general community). The authors present a thematic synthesis of the themes contained within interventions as well as strategies towards reducing stigma, classified by stakeholder status.

Martinez Quiroz, J. D., & Stutts, L. A. (2025). An experimental investigation of stigma toward attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the Hispanic/Latinx community. Stigma and Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000623

This study explored stigma towards Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the Hispanic/Latinx community by comparing the public stigma associated with ADHD symptoms with depressive symptoms. Hispanic/Latinx individuals were randomly assigned to read vignettes about an individual with ADHD symptoms, depressive symptoms, or without any psychological symptoms (control group), and then complete measures related to the public stigma towards the individual and the individual’s need for treatment. Results:  The depression group had significantly higher public stigma and treatment need than the ADHD group, and both groups had significantly higher public stigma and treatment need than the control group.

Nauphal, M., Long, K., Roemer, L., Woodard, L., Hall, P. B., Ward-Ciesielski, E., & Eustis, E. H. (2025). The mindful way through self-stigma: An open pilot study of a single-session acceptance-based behavioral therapy workshop for mental health self-stigma. Stigma and Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000618

The single-session, virtual, group workshop utilized acceptance- and mindfulness-based strategies combined with learning and behavior change related to self-stigma. Participant feedback of the workshop was positive, and the participants reported decreases in self-stigma and experimental avoidance, and increases in mindfulness, following the workshop.

VanHouten, L. E., Greenway, T. S., & Jin, J. (2025). Stigma of seeking professional psychological help: A person-centered approach to stigma profiles among racially minoritized adults with chronic pain. Stigma and Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000615

VanHouten and colleagues (2025) took a person-centered approach to conceptualizing stigma of seeking professional psychological help to identify unique patterns of stigma among minoritized groups suffering from chronic pain. The authors predicted that separating individuals into stigma profiles, based on their self-reported degree of public and self-stigma, would correspond with differences among profiles in prior mental health utilization, demographics (gender and race), and relevant psychological distress indicators (depression, anxiety, and pain intensity). They found no differences among groups due to race but found that the high stigma profile was characterized by fewer people who had previously sought help, more men, less favorable mental health attitudes, and greater depression, anxiety, and pain intensity.

Williams, L., Bartik, W., & Cosh, S. (2024). Online anti-stigma interventions for mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 18, Article 100841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2024.100841.

This systematic review of stigma literature focused on the effectiveness of online interventions to reduce self-stigma and perceived public stigma towards seeking mental health care services. Analysis found that online interventions were “mostly successful” in reducing levels of stigma and found greater help-seeking behaviors and intentions.

Albuquerque, S., Carvalho, A., de Sousa, B., da Costa, L. P., & Beato, A. (2025). Decoding Prejudice: Understanding Patterns of Adolescent Mental Health Stigma. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 14(4), 1394. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14041394

This paper details a study of 182 adolescents that aimed to identify subgroups of adolescents based on mental health knowledge, social stigma, experiences of intergroup anxiety, and endorsement of stereotypes related to mental health. Three subgroups were found: “Potential Advocates,” who reported high mental health knowledge, low social stigma and intergroup anxiety, and moderate endorsement of stereotypes; “Ambivalents,” who reported high mental health knowledge, moderate social stigma, increased intergroups anxiety, and low endorsement of stereotypes; and “Stigmatizers,” who had low mental health knowledge, high social stigma, and moderate intergroup anxiety and endorsement of stereotypes. Implications for future interventions are noted, and stress the importance of expanding beyond education-only interventions, as many participants in this study reported stigmatizing attitudes, intergroup anxiety, or endorsement of stereotypes despite having relatively high mental health knowledge.

Zhang, Z., Morgan, A., Armstrong, G., Campbell, A., & Reavley, N. (2024). Public mental illness disclosure on social media and the effects on stigma toward people with mental illness: A systematic review.Stigma and Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000531

A systematic review of the literature on the effects of online mental health disclosure on mental health stigma, which included 12 studies. Public mental illness disclosure was broadly associated with reductions in mental health stigma, although greater identification with the messenger, greater evidence of good coping within posts, greater persuasiveness and believability of experiences, and the presence of supportive peer responses were associated with greater reductions. Some studies found that rates of blaming the individual increased after public disclosure, so caution is advised in future efforts while additional research is conducted.

Morgan, A. J., Reavley, N. J., Ross, A., San Too, L., & Jorm, A. F. (2018). Interventions to reduce stigma towards people with severe mental illness: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 103, 120-133.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of stigma reduction interventions regarding people with severe mental illness, which included 62 RCTs. Interventions focused on contact with individuals with severe mental illness, education, or family psychoeducation all led to small-to-medium reductions in stigmatizing beliefs and desire for social distance. However, these effects generally did not persist at follow-ups.

Guerrero, Z., Iruretagoyena, B., Parry, S., & Henderson, C. (2023). Anti-stigma advocacy for health professionals: a systematic review. Journal of Mental Health, 33(3), 394–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2023.2182421

The objective of this study was to examine the theory base, content, delivery, and outcomes of interventions for healthcare professionals that aim to equip them with knowledge and skills to aid patients in mitigating stigma and discrimination and their health impacts. Findings suggest programs should link definitions of stigma to the role of the professional. They should be developed following a situational analysis and include people with lived experience. Training should use interactive delivery methods. Evaluation should include follow-up times that allow examination of behavioural change.

Song N, Hugh-Jones S, West RM, Pickavance J, Mir G. The effectiveness of anti-stigma interventions for reducing mental health stigma in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health. 2023;10:e39. doi:10.1017/gmh.2023.34

This systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to reduce mental health stigma among youth aged 10–19 years.  A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the included interventions. Twenty-two studies were included in the review. Eight studies reported positive effects, 11 studies found mixed effects, and 3 studies reported no effect on indicators of mental health stigma among youth. Seven of the effective studies were education-based.  Interventions to reduce stigma associated with mental health conditions showed small, short-term effects in young people. Education-based interventions showed relatively more significant effects than other types of interventions.

Gere B, Salimi N. Mental Health Literacy, Stigma, and Help-Seeking Behavior Among Black Male College Students in Historically Black Universities. American Journal of Men’s Health. 2025;19(1). doi:10.1177/15579883251318214

Previous research has indicated that Black male college students in predominantly White institutions (PWIs) often struggle with seeking mental health compared with those in Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBCUs). The purpose of the descriptive cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationships among MHL, stigma, and help-seeking behavior among Black males at HBCUs. The results indicate that having better mental health knowledge is linked to seeking help more often, stressing the need to enhance mental health understanding for better support-seeking. Seeking help was positively associated with reduced stigma.  The implications for practitioners, policymakers, and administrators were explored, emphasizing the need for targeted, culturally sensitive interventions for young Black men in higher education.

Alvarado-Torres, R., Dunn Silesky, M., Helgenberger, S., Anderson, A., Granillo, C., Nared, T., & Bonnevie, E. (2023). Evaluation of a digital media campaign for reducing mental health stigma. Health Education Journal, 83(4), 383-394. https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969231215761 (Original work published 2024)

WhatMakesUs is a digital media campaign aimed at reducing mental health stigma in the Greater Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. This study evaluated the campaign’s impact at the end of its second year by examining different aspects of mental health stigma, including social distance, attitudes, behaviours and self-efficacy, among campaign-aware (CA) individuals and non-campaign-aware (NCA) individuals.  Findings highlight the impact of digital campaigns in addressing the stigmatization of MHCs and provide valuable insights for future campaigns.

Aikins, D. E., Wargo Aikins, J., Consolino, T., Geraci, J. C., & Morrissey, P. (2025). Rethinking stigma: Prejudicial beliefs impact psychiatric treatment in U.S. soldiers. Psychological Services, 22(2), 337–341. https://doi-org.libaccess.fdu.edu/10.1037/ser0000912

Two-thirds of military personnel diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not engage in treatment. This study examined the degree that prejudicial beliefs about people with PTSD negatively affected psychiatric medication acceptance.  Importantly, increased prejudicial beliefs (but not public stigma) that one is to blame for having PTSD were associated with a reduced likelihood of accepting psychiatric medication.  Anti-stigma efforts to date may have limited effectiveness by targeting public stigma rather than self-stigma, prejudicial beliefs about personal responsibility in the development of PTSD. 

Jacob, A., Lavidor, M., Igra, L., & Hasson-Ohayon, I. (2025). Cultural aspects of stigma toward people with serious mental illness: A meta-analysis of the association between individualism-collectivism and social distance. Stigma and Health. https://doi-org.libaccess.fdu.edu/10.1037/sah0000641

This meta-analysis explored the association between individualistic versus collectivist cultures and levels of social distance from people with serious mental illness (SMI). Utilizing the social distance scale to measure societal attitudes, we systematically reviewed and analyzed data from 71 samples (extracted from 48 studies), revealing that collectivist cultures exhibited higher levels of social distance from people with SMI than did individualistic cultures. A possible explanation for these findings is that collectivist cultures, emphasizing social cohesion and conformity, view SMI as a threat to societal harmony, whereas individualistic cultures, which prioritize autonomy and self-expression, tend to be more accepting of SMI.