Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
International Journal of Social Psychiatry
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Charles, H.
Right arrow Articles by Jacob, K.S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Charles, H.
Right arrow Articles by Jacob, K.S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Stigma and Explanatory Models Among People With Schizophrenia and Their Relatives in Vellore, South India

Helen Charles

Psychiatric Nursing, College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632002, India

S.D. Manoranjitham

Psychiatric Nursing, College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632002, India

K.S. Jacob, MD, PdD

Psychiatry, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632002 India, ksjacob{at}cmcvellore.ac.in

Background: Stigma associated with mental illness affects patients and their families. Diverse beliefs about the cause and treatment of schizophrenia are common among patients and their relatives.

Aim: To study the association between stigma and beliefs about illness in patients and their relatives.

Method: Standard instruments were used to assess beliefs about illness and about stigma among patients with schizophrenia and relatives in Vellore, south India.

Results: The majority of the patients and their relatives simultaneously held multiple and contradictory models of illness and its treatment. Stigma among patients with schizophrenia and their relatives is associated with specific beliefs about causes of mental illness.

Conclusions: Beliefs may play a role in mitigating or may aggravate the effects of stigma. The cross-sectional study design precludes definitive conclusions on direction of the causal association.

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 53, No. 4, 325-332 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0020764006074538
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?