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Stigmatization of psychiatrists and general practitioners: results of an international survey

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Abstract

The stigma of mental illness affects psychiatry as a medical profession and psychiatrists. The present study aimed to compare the extent and correlation patterns of perceived stigma in psychiatrists and general practitioners. An international multicenter survey was conducted in psychiatrists and general practitioners from twelve countries. Responses were received from N = 1,893 psychiatrists and N = 1,238 general practitioners. Aspects of stigma assessed in the questionnaire included perceived stigma, self-stigma (stereotype agreement), attitudes toward the other profession, and experiences of discrimination. Psychiatrists reported significantly higher perceived stigma and discrimination experiences than general practitioners. Separate multiple regression analyses showed different predictor patterns of perceived stigma in the two groups. Hence, in the psychiatrists group, perceived stigma correlated best with discrimination experiences and self-stigma, while in the general practitioners group it correlated best with self-stigma. About 17 % of the psychiatrists perceive stigma as a serious problem, with a higher rate in younger respondents. Against this background, psychiatry as a medical profession should set a high priority on improving the training of young graduates. Despite the number of existing antistigma interventions targeting mental health professionals and medical students, further measures to improve the image of psychiatry and psychiatrists are warranted, in particular improving the training of young graduates with respect to raising awareness of own stigmatizing attitudes and to develop a better profession-related self-assertiveness.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all colleagues—psychiatrists and general practitioners—who contributed to the study by completing the questionnaire.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in relation to this paper.

Sources of financial support

The study was funded by a grant from the World Psychiatric Association (Geneva, Switzerland) and an additional grant from the Stiftung Seelische Gesundheit (German Mental Health Foundation; Essen, Germany).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Bergische Landstrasse 2, 40629, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Wolfgang Gaebel, Harald Zäske, Jürgen Zielasek, Helen-Rose Cleveland & Anja E. Baumann

  2. GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne, Germany

    Kathrin Samjeske

  3. Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

    Heather Stuart & Julio Arboleda-Florez

  4. NTT Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

    Tsuyoshi Akiyama

  5. College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Oye Gureje

  6. Escola Paulista de Medicina/UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil

    Miguel R. Jorge

  7. Competence Centre Transcultural Psychiatry, Hellerup, Denmark

    Marianne Kastrup

  8. National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuriko Suzuki

  9. University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Allan Tasman, Sarah B. Johnson & Joyce A. Spurgeoun

  10. Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Thiago M. Fidalgo

  11. III Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland

    Marek Jarema

  12. World Health Organization UN Country Office, Abuja, Nigeria

    Lola Kola

  13. Belarusian Medical Academy for Postgraduate Education, Minsk, Belarus

    Dzmytry Krupchanka & Ekaterina Padalko

  14. Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile

    Veronica Larach

  15. Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Wellington, New Zealand

    Lyndy Matthews

  16. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Graham Mellsop

  17. University of Nairobi/Africa Mental Health Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya

    David M. Ndetei

  18. Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Tarek A. Okasha

  19. Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Sobieskiego 9, 02-957, Warsaw, Poland

    Magdalena Tyszkowska

  20. Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes, Geneva, Switzerland

    Norman Sartorius

Authors
  1. Wolfgang Gaebel
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  2. Harald Zäske
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  3. Jürgen Zielasek
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  4. Helen-Rose Cleveland
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  5. Kathrin Samjeske
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  6. Heather Stuart
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  7. Julio Arboleda-Florez
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  8. Tsuyoshi Akiyama
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  9. Anja E. Baumann
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  10. Oye Gureje
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  11. Miguel R. Jorge
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  12. Marianne Kastrup
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  13. Yuriko Suzuki
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  14. Allan Tasman
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  15. Thiago M. Fidalgo
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  16. Marek Jarema
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  17. Sarah B. Johnson
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  18. Lola Kola
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  19. Dzmytry Krupchanka
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  20. Veronica Larach
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  21. Lyndy Matthews
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  22. Graham Mellsop
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  23. David M. Ndetei
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  24. Tarek A. Okasha
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  25. Ekaterina Padalko
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  26. Joyce A. Spurgeoun
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  27. Magdalena Tyszkowska
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  28. Norman Sartorius
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wolfgang Gaebel.

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Gaebel, W., Zäske, H., Zielasek, J. et al. Stigmatization of psychiatrists and general practitioners: results of an international survey. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 265, 189–197 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-014-0530-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-014-0530-8

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