The self-stigma of depression for women

Linda Denise Oakley, Jonathan W. Kanter, Janette Y. Taylor and Marilyn Duguid

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2012, vol. 58, issue 5, 512-520

Abstract: Background: Self-stigmatizing women who avoid seeking treatment for depression could believe that they have pragmatic personal reasons for their decision. As a preliminary step towards testing this hypothesis, the aim of this study was to assess diverse, low-income working women for shared self-stigmatizing beliefs about depression. Methods: Depression and depression self-stigma were assessed in a targeted sample of African American, Caucasian and Latina women who qualify for public health services and have access to health care services. Results: Depression and self-stigmatizing beliefs about depression were positively correlated ( r = .30–.64). Over one third of the women in the study (37.5%) said they would do what they could to keep their depression secret. Over half (55%) indicated that the person they normally would disclose depression to is their best friend. A majority (80%) of the women in the study said they would choose not to disclose personal depression to a health care professional. Pairwise t tests for group differences showed that Caucasian women, women recently seen by a health care professional and women with more years of education had higher self-stigma scores. Conclusion: Self-stigmatizing women who feel depressed could knowingly decide to keep their depression secret with the hope of avoiding loss.

Keywords: stigma; self-stigma; women; depression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:58:y:2012:i:5:p:512-520

DOI: 10.1177/0020764011409820

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