Attitudes toward psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts. A meta-content analysis of 60 studies published between 1948 and 1995

Analysis of General Practitioners' Attitudes and Beliefs about Psychological Intervention and the Medicine-Psychology Relationship in Primary Care: Toward a New Comprehensive Approach to Primary Health Care

The biopsychosocial paradigm is a model of care that has been proposed in order to improve the effectiveness of health care by promoting collaboration between different professions and disciplines. However, its application still faces several issues. A quantitative-qualitative survey was conducted on a sample of general practitioners (GPs) from Milan, Italy, to investigate their attitudes and beliefs regarding the role of the psychologist, the approach adopted to manage psychological diseases, and their experiences of collaboration with psychologists. The results show a partial view of the psychologist's profession that limits the potential of integration between medicine and psychology in primary care. GPs recognized that many patients (66%) would often benefit from psychological intervention, but only in a few cases (9%) were these patients regularly referred to a psychologist. Furthermore, the referral represents an almost exclusive form of collaboration present in the opinions of GPs. Only 8% of GPs would consider the joint and integrated work of the psychologist and doctor useful within the primary health care setting. This vision of the role of psychologists among GPs represents a constraint in implementing a comprehensive primary health care approach, as advocated by the World Health Organization.

Associative stigma among mental health professionals: implications for professional and service user well-being

In contrast with growing attention given to the stigma experiences of mental health service users, the stigma literature has paid almost no attention to mental health professionals. This study focuses on experiences of associative stigma among these professionals. We investigate the link between associative stigma and three dimensions of burnout as well as job satisfaction among mental health professionals, and the link of associative stigma with self-stigma and client satisfaction among service users. Survey data from 543 professionals and 707 service users from diverse mental health services are analyzed using multilevel techniques. The results reveal that among mental health professionals associative stigma is related to more depersonalization, more emotional exhaustion, and less job satisfaction. In addition, in units in which professionals report more associative stigma, service users experience more self-stigma and less client satisfaction. The results reveal that associative stigma is related to more depersonalization, more emotional exhaustion, and less job satisfaction among mental health professionals.

WPA guidance on how to combat stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists

In 2009 the WPA President established a Task Force that was to examine available evidence about the stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists and to make recommendations about action that national psychiatric societies and psychiatrists as professionals could do to reduce or prevent the stigmatization of their discipline as well as to prevent its nefarious consequences. This paper presents a summary of the Task Force's findings and recommendations. The Task Force reviewed the literature concerning the image of psychiatry and psychiatrists in the media and the opinions about psychiatry and psychiatrists of the general public, of students of medicine, of health professionals other than psychiatrists and of persons with mental illness and their families. It also reviewed the evidence about the interventions that have been undertaken to combat stigma and consequent discrimination and made a series of recommendations to the national psychiatric societies and to individual psychiatrists. The Task Force laid emphasis on the formulation of best practices of psychiatry and their application in health services and on the revision of curricula for the training of health personnel. It also recommended that national psychiatric societies establish links with other professional associations, with organizations of patients and their relatives and with the media in order to approach the problems of stigma on a broad front. The Task Force also underlined the role that psychiatrists can play in the prevention of stigmatization of psychiatry, stressing the need to develop a respectful relationship with patients, to strictly observe ethical rules in the practice of psychiatry and to maintain professional competence.

Mental disorders stigma in the media: review of studies on production, content, and influences

This article analyzes two decades of research regarding the mass media's role in shaping, perpetuating, and reducing the stigma of mental illness. It concentrates on three broad areas common in media inquiry: production, representation, and audiences. The analysis reveals that descriptions of mental illness and the mentally ill are distorted due to inaccuracies, exaggerations, or misinformation. The ill are presented not only as peculiar and different, but also as dangerous. Thus, the media perpetuate misconceptions and stigma. Especially prominent is the absence of agreed-upon definitions of "mental illness," as well as the lack of research on the inter-relationships in audience studies between portrayals in the media and social perceptions. The analysis concludes with suggestions for further research on mass media's inter-relationships with mental illness.

Hospitalized patients' views on in-ward psychological counseling

This qualitative study explores the feelings and beliefs of patients hospitalized in an orthopedic rehabilitation ward for receiving psychological help in that setting. Semi-structured interviews with 10 hospitalized patients were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Themes of an approach-avoidance conflict towards receiving psychological help were identified, some of them unique to the hospital setting. Approach tendencies were associated with high psychological distress, awareness of free accessibility, and beliefs in body-mind relationship. Avoidance tendencies were associated with fears of psychotherapy, misconceptions, and perceived threats to one's independence and self-esteem. The implications of these findings for the provision of psychological counseling in hospital settings are discussed.