“Minha doença é invisível!”: revisitando o estigma de ser doente mental

In this article, we describe part of the results of the first year of a longitudinal project about the lived experience of stigma among those with mental illness in Northeast Brazil. Using the critical phenomenological method, 30 interviews with patients in a public hospital in Fortaleza, Brazil were analyzed. The results show the presence not only of stigma but of self-stigma in the lived experience of mental illness. In addition to stigma and self-stigma, behaviors of shame, isolation and keeping the illness in secret are developed because of the pejorative image of mental illness, in the traditional comprehension of stigma as being associated to madness. Besides this comprehension, the lived experience of stigma, as well as of self-stigma appears also qualitatively related to the “invisible” character of mental illness.   Keywords: stigma; mental illness; phenomenology