Stigma of Psychological Therapy. Stereotypes, Interpersonal Reactions, and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Abstract

Although a considerable amount of research has demonstrated the stigma of mental illness, relatively little work has explored attitudes toward people involved in psychological therapy. In the present experiment, therefore, we investigated stereotypes of counseling center clients and examined how these preconceptions influence social interaction. Subjects, who were randomly assigned to be perceivers or targets, engaged in a brief getting-acquainted conversation. Targets were randomly assigned to conditions in which perceivers were told that their conversational partner, the target, had been recruited either from among students seeking psychological therapy (clients) or from students in introductory psychology courses (nonclients). As was predicted, perceivers rated clients less favorably than they did nonclients before they interacted. Furthermore, consistent with previous research on the self-fulfilling prophecy, judges' ratings of the interactions revealed that perceivers behaved more negatively toward clients than toward nonclients, and clients came to behave in a less socially desirable manner than did nonclients. Some potential influences of negative stereotypes on the effectiveness of therapy are considered. © 1986 American Psychological Association.