Stigma in midsize European countries

Abstract

This chapter presents reports from ten mid-size European countries. Authors from Austria, Croatia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey report about the situation in their countries. In all countries, various activities have been performed in order to fight against stigma. These included national and local campaigns, as well focussed programmes for pupils, students and other groups of the population. The content of the campaigns showed a broad range. While some included all types of mental disorders, other focussed on selected psychiatric disorders. Despite a lot of efforts, stigmatization and discrimination of people with mental disorders is a major problem in all countries. Studies about the effectiveness of anti-stigma activities show contrasting results, some of them indicate that activities were not successful. Research on anti-stigma interventions is essential to understand what might help to reduce stigma and discrimination.