SELF-STIGMA · Efficacy of a stigma-specific group intervention for persons with depression and neurocognitive vulnerability factors for self-stigma

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.

Project objective

Background: Stigma is a major reason for the huge personal suffering and societal costs caused by depression and leads to decreased treatment participation. Still, so far there is no intervention to help individuals with depression overcome self-stigma. Further, individual neurocognitive and social psychological vulnerability factors for self-stigma are largely unknown.Aims/Methods:This study aims:(1) to show the efficacy of a stigma-specific group intervention for outpatients with a remitted major depression in a randomised-controlled trial;(2) to determine individual vulnerability factors for self-stigma.These will be identified measuring the subjective perspective (e.g., identity as mentally ill", perceived legitimacy of stigma); assessing the affective-cognitive style using self-rating questionnaires of shame- and anger-proneness as stigma-relevant emotions, and measuring shame- and anger-related implicit self-concept in a computer-based neuropsychological test (Implicit Association Test). In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study during the induction of these emotions, the underlying functional neuro-anatomy associated with alterations in explicit and implicit shame- and anger-proneness will be investigated.Outlook: This project contributes to an effective treatment and interdisciplinary model of self-stigma, comprising social psychological and neuro-cognitive factors. Based on a better understanding of self-stigma, initiatives against public stigma and self-stigma can be improved and disseminated in European societies in order to diminish the huge personal suffering and economical losses caused by stigma. Further, this project will offer an invaluable research training to the applicant at a world-level stigma research centre, the Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research. Afterwards, he will return to the Department of Psychiatry, Freiburg, Germany, to build a European stigma research network which will contribute to Europe's research excellence."

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITÄTSKLINIKUM FREIBURG FÜR DIE MEDIZINISCHE FAKULTÄT DER ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITÄT · FREIBURGCoordinatorCity levelGermany
• ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · CHICAGOUnited States

Links

• View on CORDIS