TY - JOUR

T1 - I Didn’t Want the Psychotic Thing to Get Out to Anyone at All

T2 - Adolescents with Early Onset Psychosis Managing Stigma

AU - Klauber, Dea Gowers

AU - Christensen, Sofie Heidenheim

AU - Fink-Jensen, Anders

AU - Pagsberg, Anne Katrine

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - The impact of stigmatisation on adults with mental illnesses has been thoroughly demonstrated. However, little is known about experiences of stigmatisation among adolescents with mental illness. Through semi-structured interviews with 34 Danish adolescents (14–19 years) diagnosed with psychosis, this study explores adolescents’ experiences of psychosis stigma. On the basis of phenomenological analysis, we find that stigmatisation is widely experienced, and psychosis is generally regarded as more stigmatising than co-morbid mental illnesses. The participants engage in different strategies to manage possible stigma, especially strategies of (non-)disclosure. Disclosure is experienced as both therapeutic and normative, but also bears the risk of stigmatisation, and is therefore associated with numerous considerations. Being understood when disclosing is central to the participants, and lack of understanding from others is a continuous challenge. Nevertheless, participants experience benefits when feeling understood by people they confide in and can to a degree create the grounds for this through centralising aspects of their experiences of psychosis and mental illness. We argue that disclosure is both a stigma management strategy and a normative imperative, and that being understood or not is a challenge transcending stigma definitions. Clinical trial registration: Danish Health and Medicines Authority: 2612-4168. The Ethics Committee of Capital Region: H-3-2009-123. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01119014. Danish Data Protection Agency: 2009-41-3991.

AB - The impact of stigmatisation on adults with mental illnesses has been thoroughly demonstrated. However, little is known about experiences of stigmatisation among adolescents with mental illness. Through semi-structured interviews with 34 Danish adolescents (14–19 years) diagnosed with psychosis, this study explores adolescents’ experiences of psychosis stigma. On the basis of phenomenological analysis, we find that stigmatisation is widely experienced, and psychosis is generally regarded as more stigmatising than co-morbid mental illnesses. The participants engage in different strategies to manage possible stigma, especially strategies of (non-)disclosure. Disclosure is experienced as both therapeutic and normative, but also bears the risk of stigmatisation, and is therefore associated with numerous considerations. Being understood when disclosing is central to the participants, and lack of understanding from others is a continuous challenge. Nevertheless, participants experience benefits when feeling understood by people they confide in and can to a degree create the grounds for this through centralising aspects of their experiences of psychosis and mental illness. We argue that disclosure is both a stigma management strategy and a normative imperative, and that being understood or not is a challenge transcending stigma definitions. Clinical trial registration: Danish Health and Medicines Authority: 2612-4168. The Ethics Committee of Capital Region: H-3-2009-123. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01119014. Danish Data Protection Agency: 2009-41-3991.

KW - Adolescents

KW - Denmark

KW - Phenomenological

KW - Psychosis

KW - Stigma

U2 - 10.1007/s11013-024-09859-3

DO - 10.1007/s11013-024-09859-3

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38869653

AN - SCOPUS:85195778564

JO - Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry

JF - Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry

SN - 0165-005X

ER -