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Self-stigma and suicidality: a longitudinal study

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European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mental illness stigma is a source of distress for persons with mental illness. Self-stigma occurs when negative stereotypes are internalized, leading to low self-esteem, shame and hopelessness. Due to its consequences self-stigma may contribute to suicidality and be a modifiable target for suicide prevention. Based on 222 disability pensioners with mental illness we examined whether self-stigma at baseline is associated with suicidal ideation over a 2-year period, controlling for baseline suicidal ideation, symptoms, age and gender. More self-stigma predicted suicidal ideation at baseline and longitudinally. Interventions on different levels to reduce self-stigma could improve suicide prevention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry II, University of Ulm and BKH Günzburg, Ulm, Germany

    Nathalie Oexle, Nicolas Rüsch & Ziyan Xu

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital for Psychiatry Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sandra Viering, Christine Wyss, Erich Seifritz & Wolfram Kawohl

Authors
  1. Nathalie Oexle
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  2. Nicolas Rüsch
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  3. Sandra Viering
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  4. Christine Wyss
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  5. Erich Seifritz
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  6. Ziyan Xu
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  7. Wolfram Kawohl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathalie Oexle.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Canton of Zurich (reference number: KEK-ZH-NR: 2010-0311/0).

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Oexle, N., Rüsch, N., Viering, S. et al. Self-stigma and suicidality: a longitudinal study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 267, 359–361 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-016-0698-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-016-0698-1

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