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Current Psychiatry Reports
Published in: Current Psychiatry Reports 1/2016

01-01-2016 | Personality Disorders (C Schmahl, Section Editor)

The Stigma of Personality Disorders

Authors: Lindsay Sheehan, Katherine Nieweglowski, Patrick Corrigan

Published in: Current Psychiatry Reports | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

This article reviews the recent literature on the stigma of personality disorders, including an overview of general mental illness stigma and an examination of the personality-specific stigma. Overall, public knowledge of personality disorders is low, and people with personality disorders may be perceived as purposefully misbehaving rather than experiencing an illness. Health provider stigma seems particularly pernicious for those with borderline personality disorder. Most stigma research on personality disorders has been completed outside the USA, and few stigma-change interventions specific to personality disorder have been scientifically tested. Limited evidence suggests that health provider training can improve stigmatizing attitudes and that interventions combining positive messages of recovery potential with biological etiology will be most impactful to reduce stigma. Anti-stigma interventions designed specifically for health providers, family members, criminal justice personnel, and law enforcement seem particularly beneficial, given these sources of stigma.
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Metadata
Title
The Stigma of Personality Disorders
Authors
Lindsay Sheehan
Katherine Nieweglowski
Patrick Corrigan
Publication date
01-01-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Current Psychiatry Reports / Issue 1/2016
Print ISSN: 1523-3812
Electronic ISSN: 1535-1645
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0654-1

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