Stigma and Non-Disclosure in Psychiatric Patients from a Southeast Asian Hospital

Objective: We compared stigma experienced by psychiatric patients and controls in various social domains and hypothesized higher levels of stigma and higher rates of non-disclosure by psychiatric patients. Methods: Psychiatric outpatients and a control group of medical outpatients were assessed for experienced discrimination through a structured questionnaire that included adapted items from the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC-12). Controls were assessed on discrimination related to physical, rather than mental health issues. Statistical analyses were conducted with Pearson’s chi-squared tests and one-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA). Results: In total, 202 patients comprising 99 psychiatric patients and 103 controls gave consent to the study. Psychiatric patients experienced higher levels of discrimination (F (1, 196) = 24.4, p F (1, 196) = 22.5, p < 0.001) than controls. Compared to controls, a higher proportion of psychiatric patients practised non-disclosure of their illness. Conclusion: Our study confirmed that psychiatric patients experienced considerable stigma and coped by non-disclosure of their condition.