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The Stigma of Personality Disorders

  • Personality Disorders (C Schmahl, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

This article reviews the recent literature on the stigma of personality disorders, including an overview of general mental illness stigma and an examination of the personality-specific stigma. Overall, public knowledge of personality disorders is low, and people with personality disorders may be perceived as purposefully misbehaving rather than experiencing an illness. Health provider stigma seems particularly pernicious for those with borderline personality disorder. Most stigma research on personality disorders has been completed outside the USA, and few stigma-change interventions specific to personality disorder have been scientifically tested. Limited evidence suggests that health provider training can improve stigmatizing attitudes and that interventions combining positive messages of recovery potential with biological etiology will be most impactful to reduce stigma. Anti-stigma interventions designed specifically for health providers, family members, criminal justice personnel, and law enforcement seem particularly beneficial, given these sources of stigma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois Institute of Technology, 3424 S. State Street, Chicago, IL, 60616, USA

    Lindsay Sheehan, Katherine Nieweglowski & Patrick Corrigan

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  1. Lindsay Sheehan
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  2. Katherine Nieweglowski
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  3. Patrick Corrigan
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Correspondence to Lindsay Sheehan.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Personality Disorders

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Sheehan, L., Nieweglowski, K. & Corrigan, P. The Stigma of Personality Disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep 18, 11 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0654-1

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