SELF-STIGMA IN MENTAL HEALTH: PLANNING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS FOR TEENAGERS

Self-stigma is defined as the interiorization of negative aspects ascribed to an individual by his/her social context, producing a re-definition about Self, conforming to social judgement. Resulting effects affect negatively his/her self-esteem and self-efficacy, reducing the possibilities to reach important personal goals, and even preventing to try a positive self-image. In mental diseases self-stigma has a crucial role because impacts on the time occurring between the showing of the first symptoms and the decision of seeking for help. Public health services too, even if present and effective in the local community, are negatively perceived for ascribed social stigma towards applying people. So individuals may decide, despite early mental troubles, to avoid asking for help for fear to be labelled as mental patient. This is perceived as a problem particularly by teenagers, because of their still uncertain social identity. The research is aimed to explore self-stigma in adolescence, analyzing its relations with empowerment and gender differences. Methods. Participants: 315 students (male 51,6%), aged from 16 to 20 years (mean 17,46, s.d. 0,66). Instruments: Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale-SSOSH (Vogel, Wade & Haake, 2006), to analyze threats to self-esteem in seeking for help; Personal and Political Empowerment Scale (Francescato et al., 2007), in order to explore capability in deciding and effectively achieving goals, hopelessness, social and political participation; Ad hoc questionnaire. Results. We explain and discuss in particular self-stigma construct. Data show a positive correlation between hopelessness and perceived threats towards self-esteem, first of all in the field of social acceptance and reputation. Capability in achieving goals is positively related to political participation (as regards f.i. juvenile social groups or social activities in local community), and negatively related to hopelessness. Conclusions. Attention payed to self-stigma in adolescence is a crucial task to understand and plan actions for an effective intervention before a clear mental disease; therefore it may take a central role working with teenagers. Other important aspect concerns the network built in local communities, with an active cooperation among associations, social groups and NGO, so to create a setting for mental health placed not (only) in medical sites but (above all) in the whole community.