Stigma and disclosing one's mental illness to family and friends

摘要

Purpose: People with mental illness face the dilemma whether or not to disclose their condition. We examined stigma variables and their relationship with comfort disclosing. Methods: Comfort with disclosure, well-being, symptoms and aspects of experiencing and reacting to stigma were assessed among 202 individuals with mental illness. Results: Controlling for symptoms, greater comfort disclosing one's mental illness was associated with lower anticipated discrimination and lower stigma stress; more comfort disclosing was related to greater well-being. Conclusions: Anticipated discrimination as an external threat and stigma-related stress as an internal process may reduce comfort with disclosure and could be targeted in interventions.