Do mentalization skills affect the perception of stigma in patients with epilepsy?

We aimed to study the relationship between the mentalizing ability and stigma in patients with epilepsy.

Patients with epilepsy were administered the following battery of tests: Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) form, Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Eyes Test), Stigma Scale of Epilepsy (SSE), Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) Scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).

Assessment of an association between the Eyes Test score, ISMI Scale total score, and subscale scores revealed a negative significant correlation of Eyes Test scores with approval of stereotypes, perceived discrimination, stigma resistance, and total score. Eyes Test score and BDI scores appears to be significant predictor of internalized stigma among the clinical variables that were studied. A positive significant correlation was detected between BDI score and alienation, perceived discrimination, and total score.

The presence of a correlation between the mentalization and stigma perception in our study demonstrates that these two concepts are connected and that this connection needs further study. In particular, mentalization-based therapy can have an effect on the reduction of the stigma perceptions and in this way can improve the course of the disease, potentially improving the patients' quality of life.