Relations among internalized stigmatization, depressive symptom frequency and family loading in first-degree caregivers of the patients treated in the psychiatry clinic of a state hospital

Abstract

Internalized stigma is given as individuals' acquiescence of negative moral judgments displayed by society for themselves and consequent retraction behavior of these individuals from society owing to negative feelings of insignificance and shame (Corrigan, 1998; Corrigan, Roe, & Tsang, 2011). Internalized stigma could be considered as a subjective status that arises as a result of living in a society having common beliefs and prejudice without concrete stigmatization experiences