The stigmatization of mental illness by mental health professionals: Scoping review and bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Although research suggests that mental health professionals stigmatize mental illness, studies on this topic are relativity new. Little is known about the state of this research and existing literature reviews exhibit multiple limitations. Accordingly, a scoping review was performed on the endorsed stigmatization of mental illness by mental health professionals, with the aim of exploring how research is conducted and whether there are gaps in the literature. Studies were included from any time period if they supplied findings on the endorsed stigmatization of mental illness by mental health professionals. Research was identified through electronic databases (i.e., PsycINFO, Embase, Medline, Scopus) and other sources (i.e., the Griffith University library, Google Scholar, literature reviews). It was found that the research is characterized by a number of limitations, and little progress has been made in this important domain. Among other limitations, there was a lack of comprehensive studies on the relative stigma of mental illness and how the components of stigmatization relate to each other. A bibliometric analysis also found that a large proportion of the research is not connected by references. Recommendations were made with respect to future research in this area.