The stigma of mental illness in children and adolescents: A systematic review

One in ten children and adolescents suffer with mental health difficulties at any given time, yet less than one third seek treatment. Untreated mental illness predisposes to longstanding individual difficulties and presents a great public health burden. Large scale initiatives to reduce stigmatization of mental illness, identified as a key deterrent to treatment, have been disappointing. This indicates the need for a clearer understanding of the stigmatizing processes faced by young people, so that more effective interventions are employed. A systematic review of the literature, assessing public stigma and self-stigma (i.e. internalized public stigma) specifically in children and adolescents with mental health difficulties (YP-MHD), was conducted. Forty-two studies were identified, confirming that stigmatization of YP-MHD is a universal and disabling problem, present amongst both children and adults. There was some variation by diagnosis and gender, and stigmatization was for the most part unaffected by labelling. Self-stigmatization led to more secrecy and an avoidance of interventions. The findings confirm that stigmatization of mental illness is poorly understood due to a lack of research and methodological discrepancies between existing studies. Implications for the findings are discussed, and suggestions made for future research.