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Spontaneous labelling and stigma associated with clinical characteristics of peers ‘at‐risk’ for psychosis
Author(s) -
Anglin Deidre M.,
Greenspoon Michelle I.,
Lighty Quenesha,
Corcoran Cheryl M.,
Yang Lawrence H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
early intervention in psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.087
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1751-7893
pISSN - 1751-7885
DOI - 10.1111/eip.12047
Subject(s) - vignette , psychosis , stigma (botany) , psychology , attribution , psychiatry , clinical psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , social psychology
Aim The public health benefits of utilizing an ‘at‐risk for psychosis’ designation are tempered by concerns about stigma. It is therefore of interest to examine whether symptoms associated with this designation might spontaneously induce labels associated with a psychotic disorder, other non‐psychotic disorders or non‐psychiatric labels. This pilot study explored the labels associated with characteristics of ‘high risk for psychosis’ and the corresponding stigma level. Methods A vignette describing an identical character, followed by a series of questions about stigmatizing attitudes towards the vignette character, was administered in the present investigation. Results The results indicated that even though most young people (59%) did not spontaneously label the vignette character with psychotic‐like diagnostic labels, the single most frequent label provided was ‘paranoid/a’. When such labelling, that is, strongly tied to psychosis, occurred, respondents exhibited stronger stigmatizing attributions of fear compared to those indicating non‐psychiatric labels (e.g. ‘weird’). Conclusions These results suggest that the majority of respondents did not endorse diagnostic labels spontaneously, thus signaling that stigma in the majority of cases would not naturalistically be elicited. However, a segment of respondents evidenced stigma simply from behavioural changes manifested by individuals exhibiting signs of psychosis, independent of diagnosis. Implications for reducing any stigma associated with an ‘at‐risk for psychosis’ designation are discussed.