‘People with Problems, Not Patients with Illnesses’: Using Psychosocial frameworks to Reduce the Stigma of Psychosis

Background: Stigma and discrimination are major difficulties for people with psychosis. However, despite the dominance of biomedical ideology in public education and de-stigmatization efforts, there is substantial evidence that campaigns based on the "medical model" (such as the "mental illness is an illness like any other" approach) are not only ineffective, but can actually compound the problem. This paper considers the alternative role of psychosocial explanatory frameworks in promoting more tolerant and enlightened approaches to, and attitudes about, psychosis.

Data: A summary of theoretical and empirical research on the effectiveness of mental health anti-stigma campaigns is presented.

Conclusions: There is a reasonably substantial evidencebase supporting the hypothesis that anti-stigma campaigns which frame psychosis as a meaningful response to adversity are effective. They are a more promising approach to "humanizing" people with complex mental health problems than strategies based on models of disease and disability.