[Is there currently a boom of stigma research in psychiatry?]

Recently, there has been a growing awareness among psychiatrists of the stigma of mental illness. In numerous countries programs aimed at reducing stigmatization and discrimination because of mental illness have been launched. The question arises as to what extent the increasing interest in stigma has stimulated research in this area.

A search for papers on stigma of mental illness that have been published in scientific journals since 1990 has been carried out, using different search strategies.

During the 1990 s, there is a marked increase of articles dealing with the stigma of mental illness. There is no indication of an end of this trend.

Despite more research we are still far from understanding the stigma process in detail. This, however, is the prerequisite for developing successful anti-stigma interventions.