Group Interventions May Reduce Self-Stigma in Patients With Serious Mental Illness

Two group interventions have been found to help reduce internalized stigma in people with serious mental illness (SMI), but one of the interventions showed superiority for participants who had psychotic symptoms, according to astudy inPsychiatric Services in Advance.“ ‘Internalized stigma’ or ‘self-stigma’ refers to the process by which one cognitively or emotionally absorbs negative messages about mental illness and comes to believe and apply them to one’s self,” wrote Amy L. Drapalski, Ph.D., and colleagues. “Internalized stigma has been linke d to many negative outcomes, including depression and demoralization, decreased hope and self-esteem, degraded persistence regarding illness management, and social avoidance.”Several programs have been developed to specifically target self-stigma, including a group intervention called Ending Self-Stigma, but few have been evaluated in a randomized, controlled trial, the authors noted. Drapalski and colleagues randomly assigned 248 veterans aged 18 to 80 with schizophrenia disorder, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depression with psychotic features to the Ending Self-Stigma or Health and Wellness intervention.Participants in the Ending Self-Stigma group were taught different strategies for addressing self-stigma, shared personal experiences, and practiced exercises to address stigma in their daily lives. Participants in the Health and Wellness group discussed such topics as physical activity, heal...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Ending Self-Stigma Health and Wellness intervention Psychiatric Services serious mental illness SMI veterans Source Type: research