WPA guidance on how to combat stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists |
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Authors: | NORMAN SARTORIUS WOLFGANG GAEBEL HELEN‐ROSE CLEVELAND HEATHER STUART TSUYOSHI AKIYAMA JULIO ARBOLEDA‐FLÓREZ ANJA E BAUMANN OYE GUREJE MIGUEL R JORGE MARIANNE KASTRUP YURIKO SUZUKI ALLAN TASMAN |
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Institution: | 1. Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes, Geneva, Switzerland;2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Heinrich‐Heine‐University Düsseldorf, Germany;3. Queen's University, Kingston, Canada;4. Department of Psychiatry, Kanto Medical Center, University of Tokyo, Japan;5. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark;6. Department of Psychiatry, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria;7. Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil;8. Center for Transcultural Psychiatry, Psychiatric Clinic, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark;9. National Institute of Mental Health, Department of Adult Mental Health, Tokyo, Japan;10. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville, KY, USA |
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Abstract: | In 2009 the WPA President established a Task Force that was to examine
available evidence about the stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists
and to make recommendations about action that national psychiatric societies
and psychiatrists as professionals could do to reduce or prevent the stigmatization
of their discipline as well as to prevent its nefarious consequences. This
paper presents a summary of the Task Force’s findings and recommendations.
The Task Force reviewed the literature concerning the image of psychiatry
and psychiatrists in the media and the opinions about psychiatry and psychiatrists
of the general public, of students of medicine, of health professionals other
than psychiatrists and of persons with mental illness and their families.
It also reviewed the evidence about the interventions that have been undertaken
to combat stigma and consequent discrimination and made a series of recommendations
to the national psychiatric societies and to individual psychiatrists. The
Task Force laid emphasis on the formulation of best practices of psychiatry
and their application in health services and on the revision of curricula
for the training of health personnel. It also recommended that national psychiatric
societies establish links with other professional associations, with organizations
of patients and their relatives and with the media in order to approach the
problems of stigma on a broad front. The Task Force also underlined the role
that psychiatrists can play in the prevention of stigmatization of psychiatry,
stressing the need to develop a respectful relationship with patients, to
strictly observe ethical rules in the practice of psychiatry and to maintain
professional competence. |
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Keywords: | Stigmatization psychiatry psychiatrists general public media medical students patients and relatives ethical rules |
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