IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v249y2020ics0277953620300800.html

Reassessing mental illness stigma in mental health care: Competing stigmas and risk containment

Author

Listed:
  • Dobransky, Kerry M.

Abstract

Research on mental illness stigma tends to focus on the most severe diagnoses and settings, and it pays insufficient attention to how the treatment process itself relates to stigma. This study, calling on 28 interviews with providers treating a wide range of mental problems in varied settings, addresses these issues. Findings reveal that stigma is associated with treatment across settings and severity, although dynamics vary based on the intensity of setting. Mental illness stigma competes with other stigmas in presenting for treatment. Once in treatment, mental health care acts as a stigma-mitigating “stamp” of risk containment for other societal systems and institutions, signifying that risks posed by clients' problems are being officially contained.

Suggested Citation

  • Dobransky, Kerry M., 2020. "Reassessing mental illness stigma in mental health care: Competing stigmas and risk containment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:249:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620300800
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620300800
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112861?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hansen, Helena & Bourgois, Philippe & Drucker, Ernest, 2014. "Pathologizing poverty: New forms of diagnosis, disability, and structural stigma under welfare reform," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 76-83.
    2. Chiarello, Elizabeth, 2013. "How organizational context affects bioethical decision-making: Pharmacists' management of gatekeeping processes in retail and hospital settings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 319-329.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wong, Sandy, 2016. "Geographies of medicalized welfare: Spatial analysis of supplemental security income in the U.S., 2000–2010," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 9-19.
    2. Anson Au, 2023. "Reassessing the econometric measurement of inequality and poverty: toward a cost-of-living approach," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Piehowski, Victoria, 2025. "Medicalizing violence: The institutional politics of trauma in Veterans Treatment Courts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 380(C).
    4. Lisa Reber & Jodi M. Kreschmer & Tyler G. James & Jaime D. Junior & Gina L. DeShong & Shan Parker & Michelle A. Meade, 2022. "Ableism and Contours of the Attitudinal Environment as Identified by Adults with Long-Term Physical Disabilities: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Harvey, Tyler D. & Keene, Danya E. & Pachankis, John E., 2021. "Minority stress, psychosocial health, and survival among gay and bisexual men before, during, and after incarceration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    6. Whittle, Henry J. & Palar, Kartika & Hufstedler, Lee Lemus & Seligman, Hilary K. & Frongillo, Edward A. & Weiser, Sheri D., 2015. "Food insecurity, chronic illness, and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area: An example of structural violence in United States public policy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 154-161.
    7. Yang, Lawrence H. & Chen, Fang-pei & Sia, Kathleen Janel & Lam, Jonathan & Lam, Katherine & Ngo, Hong & Lee, Sing & Kleinman, Arthur & Good, Byron, 2014. "“What matters most:” A cultural mechanism moderating structural vulnerability and moral experience of mental illness stigma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 84-93.
    8. Wagner, Brandon G. & Cleland, Kelly & Batur, Pelin & Wu, Justine & Rothberg, Michael B., 2019. "Emergency contraception: Links between providers' counseling choices, prescribing behaviors, and sociopolitical context," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    9. Fleming, Mark D. & Safaeinili, Nadia & Knox, Margae & Hernandez, Elizabeth & Brewster, Amanda L., 2023. "Between health care and social services: Boundary objects and cross-sector collaboration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    10. Felicity Thomas & Lorraine Hansford & Joseph Ford & Katrina Wyatt & Rosemarie McCabe & Richard Byng, 2018. "Moral narratives and mental health: rethinking understandings of distress and healthcare support in contexts of austerity and welfare reform," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Salhi, Bisan A., 2020. "Who are Clive's friends? Latent sociality in the emergency department," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    12. Pryma, Jane, 2025. "Trauma as a workaround: Recognizing chronic pain as disability without medical documentation in the United States and France," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 382(C).
    13. Goodyear, Trevor & Thulien, Madison & Anghel, Alexandra & Slemon, Allie & Jensen, Mazal & Ignaszewski, Martha J. & Sassi, Roberto & Mathias, Steve & Jenkins, Emily & Knight, Rod & Fast, Danya, 2025. "The stakes of stimulant use, psychosis, and antipsychotic treatment among youth who use drugs: A longitudinal qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 387(C).
    14. Owczarzak, Jill & Kazi, Asiya K. & Mazhnaya, Alyona & Alpatova, Polina & Zub, Tatyana & Filippova, Olga & Phillips, Sarah D., 2021. "“You're nobody without a piece of paper:” visibility, the state, and access to services among women who use drugs in Ukraine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    15. Keene, Danya E. & Lynch, Julia F. & Baker, Amy Castro, 2014. "Fragile health and fragile wealth: Mortgage strain among African American homeowners," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 119-126.
    16. Baumgart-McFarland, Madison & Chiarello, Elizabeth & Slay, Tayla, 2022. "Reluctant Saviors: Professional ambivalence, cultural imaginaries, and deservingness construction in naloxone provision," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    17. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.
    18. Guise, Andy, 2024. "Stigma power in practice: Exploring the contribution of Bourdieu's theory to stigma, discrimination and health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    19. Kyle Rozema & Nicolas Ziebarth, 2015. "Behavioral Responses to Taxation: Cigarette Taxes and Food Stamp Take-Up," Working Papers 150015, Canadian Centre for Health Economics.
    20. Solheim, I.H. & Moland, K.M. & Kahabuka, C. & Pembe, A.B. & Blystad, A., 2020. "Beyond the law: Misoprostol and medical abortion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:249:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620300800. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.