Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: 1 l. at end.

Thesis (M A(Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis(Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2010 / Title from PDF (viewed on 2010-01-28) Department of Social Welfare Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center

Thesis (M.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Medicine, Discipline of Psychiatry, 2007. / "Submitted April 2007" Bibliography: leaves 145-160. Also available in print form.

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.

Thesis advisor: Allison Adair / This collection of poems and nonfiction essays is intended to explore the experiences of both patients and providers in the field of emergency medical services. Written by a first responder, the pieces study the grief, intimacy, discomfort, and humanity witnessed in a few years' work. Topics to be examined include the writer’s own experience as a patient, vulnerability in medicine, the separation of provider and person, end-of-life experiences, and the human desire to connect deeply with one another. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: English.

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.

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.

The term ‘restitution narrative’ describes the hope we all have when illness or accidental impairment befalls us to be returned to a pre-morbid condition of health as soon as possible, and in modern Western society we expect the miracle of restitutions to be mediated by medical science. Medicine is still unable to cure a wide range of illness and disability. For these people the restitution narrative fails. This study attempts to create space between health and illness, the space of the failed patient, within which to explore the iatrogenic and disabling effects on bodies and minds living in a society that has come to expect not to suffer when illness or disability is incurable and chronic. Through the medium of a purpose built website, people who are chronically ill and disabled discussed the ‘wicked issues’ that make lives already challenged unnecessarily difficult. Application of the findings of research in psychobiology is applied to speculate whether health may be worsened by being a failed patient in a culture for which health has become the ultimate good. Ideas of social fuzziology are brought into play to help imagine ways in which the dualities of health and illness, normal and abnormal, are broken down and the normalizing ideologies of medicine resisted. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)