Component of stigma | Themes and sub-themes | Frequency of the theme in study results (≤2 = Small (S), 3–5 = Medium, > 6 = High) | Number of studies reporting on the theme in results | Included in the discussion |
Knowledge | Symptoms/ expected behaviour of a person with a mental illness | H | ||
Low I.Q. | M | |||
Difficult to identify | M | |||
Likely to harm others/ violent | M | |||
Unpredictable behaviour | S | |||
Withdrawn/ passive | S | |||
Unable to manage emotions | S | |||
Life satisfaction | S | |||
Speak differently | S | |||
Differences in sleeping, eating and memory | S | |||
Multiple personalities associated with depression | S | |||
Treatment and recovery | H | |||
Unlikely to be cured (recurrent, lifelong) | M | |||
Marriage as a social intervention | M | |||
Treatment by a spiritual healer | S | |||
Heavy/ multiple medication/ hospitalisation needed | S | |||
Causes of mental illness | H | |||
Genetic/ hereditary/ birth defect | M | |||
Evil spirits and bad deeds | M | |||
Brain damage | S | |||
Stress | S | |||
Social environment | S | |||
Infectious transmission | S | |||
Physical/ sexual abuse | S | |||
Non-vegetarian diet | S | |||
Alcohol and its effects | M | |||
Associated with temporary harm | M | |||
Locations to access | S | |||
Prevalence of youth substance use | S | |||
Treatment/ cessation services | S | |||
Associated with suicide | S | |||
Can happen to anyone | S | – | ||
Mental illness can happen to anyone | S | |||
Suicide happens to few people | S | |||
Suicide occurs more among women | S | |||
Attitude | Cannot shoulder responsibility or take life decisions | H | ||
Should not marry or should be married | Â | |||
Unlikely to be good parents | S | |||
Unable/ incapable of having a job | S | |||
Cannot take decisions in their own treatment | S | |||
Voting | S | |||
Poor interpersonal or social skills | – | |||
Dangerous | M | |||
Likely to be violent | M | |||
Likely to commit crimes (need punishment to prevent future attacks) | S | |||
Intolerant of suicidal ideation | S | |||
Avoid people with mental illness | M | 1 [42] | ||
Desired physical separation (should be treated in different hospitals from people with physical illness, kept locked, in special schools) | M | |||
Negative emotions | H | |||
Shame and blame (cowardly, inferior, lacking will power, should not | H | |||
disclose illness, deliberately acting so) | Â | |||
Fear | S | |||
Pity/ sadness | S | |||
Low status of psychiatry/ psychiatrists | S | |||
Attention-seeking | S | |||
Substance use | M | |||
People who use are ‘bad’ | S | |||
Improves sexual activity | S | |||
Proximity to users increases risk of substance use | S | |||
Alcohol as a status symbol/ celebratory product | – | |||
Use is common in social scenarios | – | |||
Behaviour | Treatment | M | ||
Not taking a person with an epileptic seizure to the hospital, throwing | S | |||
water on them or making them smell a shoe | Â | |||
Treatment should be separate from physical problems or confinement | S | |||
Personal interactions | S | |||
Not maintaining friendships | S | |||
Laughing at persons with mental illness | S | |||
Help-seeking for self | S | 1 [41] | ||
Commit suicide if diagnosed with a mental illness | S | |||
Not disclose own mental illness | S |