This thesis explores physical health outcomes of individuals that hold stigma against those with mental illness. The stigmatizer is mentioned in the literature as an individual that holds a stigma towards another group. In this thesis, stigma refers to those that hold prejudice and may express discrimination towards a targeted group. Two studies were conducted that looked at multiple demographic variables as well as symptomology and degree of stigma towards those with mental illness. The first study looked at overall stigma without the stereotypical psychosomatic symptoms (chest pain and abdominal pain). The second study looked at a second dimension of stigma (social distance) and included the psychosomatic symptoms. In the first study, results indicated that stigmatizers were more likely to be male (M = 1.53, SD = .51; r = .216, p < .01) and have higher socioeconomic status (M = 3.06, SD = .91; r = .22, p < .01). Health outcomes were not correlated in the first study. In the second study, results indicated that those with higher levels of stigma (M=45.13, SD=13.52) also had more symptoms (including chest pain and abdominal pain; M = 4.92, SD = 5.64; R2=.06, F(1,98)=6.58, p=.01). This trend was also true for stigma as determined by social distance (M=18.31, SD=7.02) and health (R2=.10, F(1,98)=10.74, p<.01). These results were consistent with the proposed hypothesis and the current literature of the stigmatizer as well as the biopsychosocial model of mental health.

This study explored whether depression is stigmatized, and whether these perceptions of depression vary by gender, a person’s own experience with depression, or knowing other people with depression. These questions were examined through the use of an online survey, which included questions measuring demographics, personal history of depression, tolerance of depression, and stigma toward depression. Responses from 106 participants were analyzed using t-tests. The study found that depression is stigmatizing. There is also more stigma for a male with depression than a female with depression. In regards to personal history with depression and stigma, it was found that personally dealing with depression lessened the amount of stigma imposed on depressed persons. There was no significant difference between men’s ratings of stigma and women’s rating. The study also found no significant difference between knowing people with depression or coming into contact with depressed individuals and the likelihood of stigmatizing those with depression.

In any year, one in four British adults will experience a mental disorder (Singleton, Bumpstead, O’Brien, Lee, & Meltzer, 2001), but barriers to accessing treatment remain, one being fear of stigmatization. In this study perceptions of the stigma associated with mental illness were experimentally manipulated and perceived public stigma of help-seeking, attitudes to mental illness, self-stigma, and attitudes to help-seeking were measured. Results indicated that lowering perceived social stigma of mental illness reduced perceived public stigma attached to help-seeking, but also resulted in less positive attitudes to help-seeking, when compared to a neutral condition. The relationship between perceived societal stigma of mental illness and attitudes to help-seeking was mediated by perceived public stigma of seeking psychological help. This research raises questions about the effect of anti-stigma campaigns, which aim to change perceptions about stigma but may have a negative effect on attitudes to help-seeking.

This thesis comprises a narrative exploration of the lived experience of being someone who has self-injured. Self-injury, like pain, emotions, sensation and social life, is understood and examined as inherently embodied. The thesis is intended to contribute to sociological approaches to the study of embodiment and to sociological understandings of self-injury. Twelve participants were recruited in non-clinical sites. The sample was heterogeneous in terms of their experience of self-injury, contact with medical and psychiatric services, socio-economic background, household type, age and sexuality. Both men and women were interviewed in an attempt to counter the relative neglect of men in previous research. Two interviews were carried out with each participant: the first was a life-story interview, while the second explored self-injury more directly. The approach to data collection and analysis was intended to be collaborative, and comprised both narrative and thematic techniques. The thesis demonstrates the importance of studying self-injury as an embodied, socially situated and socially mediated behaviour. An embodied approach underlines the importance of the visibility of self-injury. The existence of visible marks and scars created by self-injury were important aspects of the lived experience of participants. The ways in which these marks were negotiated in social life represented a key focus of analysis. My analysis reveals the importance and utility of attending to the practical and material aspects of self-injury in attempting to understand the behaviour. I highlight the diverse ways in which self-injury is practised, and the equally various meanings and understandings it holds for practitioners A variety of complex and contradictory justifications for self-injury are critically examined. These justifications share a concern with pain, incarnate, suggesting that self-injury is: a method of transforming emotional pain into physical pain; a way of relieving emotional pain; painful; painless; attention-seeking; private. A sociological, narrative analysis illuminates the ways in which these understandings and justifications can be located within biographical, interpersonal and socio-cultural contexts. By locating these justifications within socio-cultural contexts, the complexities and contradictions of the accounts become understandable. My analysis confirms the importance of attending to socio-cultural understandings of bodies, emotions, authenticity and morality in exploring narratives about self-injury.

Neurocognitive and functional outcome deficits have long been acknowledged in schizophrenia and are considered a core feature of the disorder. Neurocognition has been found to account for functional disability to a greater extent than psychopathology however much of the variance in functional outcome still remains unexplained. How functional outcome is measured also requires clarification. By investigating the relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome in First-Episode Psychosis (FEP), much can be learnt about the trajectory of disability and the course of illness in schizophrenia. Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, has been proposed as a mediating variable between neurocognition and functional outcome. Despite different theoretical backgrounds, authors generally converge on there being higher-order, explicit, conscious metacognitive knowledge and lower-order, implicit metacognitive processes. How these relate to each other requires clarification. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been implicated in higher order thought and metacognitive processing, and deficits have been observed in PFC Grey Matter (GM) volume in schizophrenia. These metacognitive deficits may contribute to the relationship between cognitive ability and community functioning. A preliminary meta-analysis demonstrated that a moderate effect size is found between neurocognition and metacognition and a moderate effect size exists between metacognition and functional outcome. The present thesis investigated whether metacognition mediates the relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome in FEP (N=80). Path models were created to investigate the different relationships between neurocognition, metacognition and both capacity to perform everyday tasks and objective functioning in the community. A secondary Voxel-based Morphometry (VBM) analysis was also conducted investigating perceptual metacognitive accuracy and its relationship to GM volume in both FEP (N=41) and a matched healthy control sample (N=21). Current findings support the model that metacognition and negative symptoms mediate the relationship between neurocognition and functional capacity in FEP. Path models also demonstrated a significant mediation effect of metacognition between neorocognition and objective function, and functional capacity and objective function. Significant group differences were found between FEP and controls in perceptual metacognitive accuracy however no significant relationship was found between metacognition and GM volume in the PFC. The present thesis suggests that metacognitive deficits are present at first episode and may account for the relationship between cognitive ability and functioning in the community. Findings also suggest that cognitive remediation programmes may wish to focus on metacognition to maximise the transfer of cognitive skills to community functioning. The findings also suggest the presence of two metacognitive processing routes; explicit, declarable, higher-order knowledge and implicit, intuition-based, lower-order experience which can be accounted for by Nelson and Narens (1990) metacognitive model.

Trata-se de uma Revisão Integrativa da Literatura, com objetivo de identificar e analisar estudos que abordam a violência sofrida por mulheres antes do seu encarceramento. Procedeu-se à seleção dos estudos, por meio da utilização de três palavras-chaves: Mulheres, Prisões e Violência, junto às bases de dados:LILACS, PUBMED e PsycInfo. Delimitou-se estudos publicados nos últimos 5 anos. Dos 208 estudos recuperados, derivou-se uma amostra final de 16 estudos. Houve predomínio de pesquisas realizadas nos Estados Unidos. Identificaram alta prevalência de violência com as mulheres antes do encarceramento. Abordaram a violência interpessoal, durante a infância, quando adulto, por parceiro intimo e na comunidade. Essas experiências estão fortemente associadas aos problemas de saúde mental. Destaque para tentativa de suicídio, sintomas psicóticos, transtorno de estresse pós-traumático e abuso de substâncias. O tipo de violência na infância e a frequência em que ocorre, indicam importantes preditores ao agravo da saúde. As mulheres são mais revitimizadas se comparado aos homens, principalmente por abuso sexual, o que pode estar associado às múltiplas formas de abuso durante a vida. Geralmente o abusador é um membro da família ou o parceiro íntimo. A regulação emocional total tem um papel fundamental para as mulheres estarem mais vulneráveis àrevitimização e manterem comportamento sexual de risco. Os estudos sugeriram que os serviços de saúde considerem as experiências traumáticas e ofereçam tratamentos e intervenções específicas de gênero. Conclui- se que o abuso sexual e a violência intrafamiliar trouxeram maiores implicações na saúde das mulheres encarceradas. São necessárias iniciativas políticas e científicas, para desenvolver estratégias de intervenções específicas, para as mulheres encarceradas que sofreram violência antes do seu encarceramento / This is an Integrative Review of Literature, with the purpose of identify and analyze studies about the violence against women before incarceration. The study was selected through the use of three main words: Women, Prison and Violence, along with the databases: LILACS, PUBMED e PsycInfo. The studies were limited to publications from the past five years. From 208 recovered studies, a final sample of 16 studies was selected. Most of the researches were conducted in the United States. Identified high prevalence of violence against women before incarceration. They approached the interpersonal violence during childhood and adulthood, with an intimate partner and in the community. These experiences are strongly associated with problems of mental health. The studies highlighted suicide attempts, psychotic symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. The type of violence during childhood and the frequency that it occurs, indicates important predictors to health deterioration. Women are more revictimized compared to men, especiallyregarding for sexual abuse that might be associated to multiple forms of abuse during life. Usually the offender is a family member or an intimate partner. The emotional regulation plays an important role to women, making them more vulnerable to there victimization and maintaining a risky sexual behavior. The studies suggested the Health Serviceshould consider the traumatic experiences and offer specific treatments and interventions. In conclusion that sexual abuse and family violence brought major implications to the health of incarcerated women. It is necessary more political and scientific initiatives, to develop strategies of specific interventions, to incarcerated women that suffered violence before their incarceration

Thesis (M.A.)--East Carolina University, 2009. / Presented to the faculty of the Department of Psychology. Advisor: Kathleen Row. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed May 21, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--St. John's University, N.Y. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--St. John's University, N.Y. / Vita. Includes bibliography.

Trata-se de uma Revisão Integrativa da Literatura, com objetivo de identificar e analisar estudos que abordam a violência sofrida por mulheres antes do seu encarceramento. Procedeu-se à seleção dos estudos, por meio da utilização de três palavras-chaves: Mulheres, Prisões e Violência, junto às bases de dados:LILACS, PUBMED e PsycInfo. Delimitou-se estudos publicados nos últimos 5 anos. Dos 208 estudos recuperados, derivou-se uma amostra final de 16 estudos. Houve predomínio de pesquisas realizadas nos Estados Unidos. Identificaram alta prevalência de violência com as mulheres antes do encarceramento. Abordaram a violência interpessoal, durante a infância, quando adulto, por parceiro intimo e na comunidade. Essas experiências estão fortemente associadas aos problemas de saúde mental. Destaque para tentativa de suicídio, sintomas psicóticos, transtorno de estresse pós-traumático e abuso de substâncias. O tipo de violência na infância e a frequência em que ocorre, indicam importantes preditores ao agravo da saúde. As mulheres são mais revitimizadas se comparado aos homens, principalmente por abuso sexual, o que pode estar associado às múltiplas formas de abuso durante a vida. Geralmente o abusador é um membro da família ou o parceiro íntimo. A regulação emocional total tem um papel fundamental para as mulheres estarem mais vulneráveis àrevitimização e manterem comportamento sexual de risco. Os estudos sugeriram que os serviços de saúde considerem as experiências traumáticas e ofereçam tratamentos e intervenções específicas de gênero. Conclui- se que o abuso sexual e a violência intrafamiliar trouxeram maiores implicações na saúde das mulheres encarceradas. São necessárias iniciativas políticas e científicas, para desenvolver estratégias de intervenções específicas, para as mulheres encarceradas que sofreram violência antes do seu encarceramento / This is an Integrative Review of Literature, with the purpose of identify and analyze studies about the violence against women before incarceration. The study was selected through the use of three main words: Women, Prison and Violence, along with the databases: LILACS, PUBMED e PsycInfo. The studies were limited to publications from the past five years. From 208 recovered studies, a final sample of 16 studies was selected. Most of the researches were conducted in the United States. Identified high prevalence of violence against women before incarceration. They approached the interpersonal violence during childhood and adulthood, with an intimate partner and in the community. These experiences are strongly associated with problems of mental health. The studies highlighted suicide attempts, psychotic symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. The type of violence during childhood and the frequency that it occurs, indicates important predictors to health deterioration. Women are more revictimized compared to men, especiallyregarding for sexual abuse that might be associated to multiple forms of abuse during life. Usually the offender is a family member or an intimate partner. The emotional regulation plays an important role to women, making them more vulnerable to there victimization and maintaining a risky sexual behavior. The studies suggested the Health Serviceshould consider the traumatic experiences and offer specific treatments and interventions. In conclusion that sexual abuse and family violence brought major implications to the health of incarcerated women. It is necessary more political and scientific initiatives, to develop strategies of specific interventions, to incarcerated women that suffered violence before their incarceration