Trial Description

Title

Effects of Media Reports on Self-Stigmatization, Self-Esteem and Affectivity in Persons with Depression

Trial Acronym

MeStiD

URL of the Trial

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Brief Summary in Lay Language

Stigmatization of people with psychological disorders still appears to increase in spite of severely educational programs in Germany. In media often psychological disorders are reported in the context of exciting crime or accidents.
With reference to the Germanwings plane crash in France in March 2015 possible direct effects media reporting with stigmatizing contents could have on people with depression, i.e. carriers of the stigmatized attribute, have not been explored.
Aim of this study is to investigate how people with depression react to such media reporting, and how personal resources may reduce negative effects of media reporting. Participants who have had at least one depressive episode during their life will watch two short films. The first film is about the bird of the year of Germany in 2016. The second film is randomly chosen out of three options (e.g. a natural disaster, a plane crash, or a congress about Depression). Additionally, participants will be asked to fill in some questionnaires of which the results will be related to reactions to the films.

Brief Summary in Scientific Language

Stigmatization of people with psychological disorders still appears to increase in spite of severely educational programs in Germany (Angermeyer, Matschinger, & Schomerus, 2013). Following Goffman’s definition of stigmatization (1963), media coverage represents an essential factor in this concern (Stout, Villegas, & Jennings, 2004; Stuart, 2006). Goffman defines “stigma as a mark (attribute) that links a person to undesirable characteristics (stereotypes)” (1963). Besides factual information, often psychological disorders are reported in media in the context of exciting crime or accidents (Aragonès et al., 2014).
Especially with reference to the Germanwings plane crash in France in March 2015 news with potentially stigmatizing contents have been published, increasingly: Conrad von Heydendorff, Meyer-Lindenberg, and Dreßing (2016) indicated 64,1% of corresponding print media use „precarious media reporting“ and 31,5% of the other texts contain at least hints of explicit stigmatization. In this case particularly many expert opinions (e.g. Gurris, 2015) and reader letters (e.g. Bavendamm, 2015) criticized such potentially stigmatizing reports. Anyways, there is few empirical evidence regarding effects of media reporting with stigmatizing contents about depression on which these public discussions could be sufficiently based on.
In the early 1990ies, when Oskar Lafontaine and Wolfgang Schäuble had been attacked, stigmatization significantly increased in German population, while between 2014 and 2015 after the plane crash the population’s attitudes did not change relevantly (Knesebeck et al., 2015).
To date, it has not been focused on possible direct effects media reporting with stigmatizing contents could have on people with depression, i.e. carriers of the stigmatized attribute. Corrigan und Watson (2002) added the stigmatized group’s perspective to Goffman‘s model of stigma. They postulate the perception of collective stigmatizing assumptions results in self-stigmatization in persons who carry the stigmatized attribute. This effect may exist especially if these persons identify with the stigmatized attribute and at the same time believe the stigmatization to be legitimate.
Self-stigmatization itself is negatively related to well-being (Cruwys & Gunaseelan, 2016), quality of life, looking for professional help, general performance, and self-esteem (Picco et al., 2016), as well as positively related to suicidal behavior (Campo-Arias & Herazo, 2015). Therefore, stigmatization is not only connected to negative feelings but also with the reduction of the probability to engage in corresponding effective treatment. However, regarding a successful recovery, the treatment of psychological disorders plays a key role.
Thus, self-stigmatization should be reduced in affected persons. The question arises, how persons with depression perceive the general population’s reactions to potentially stigmatizing media reporting like in the case of the plane crash in March 2015, in what way media reporting influences self-stigmatization, and which additional impact factors exist.
There does not exist an experimental study, respectively.
2.2. Objectives: Specific Objectives or Hypotheses
The present study aims at filling this gap. In the context of a quasi-experiment it is to be investigated, how persons with depression react to media reporting about negative events relating to depression. Additionally it will be looked at personal resources which may buffer this effect. There are three main objectives of this study:
(1) The relationship between potentially stigmatizing media reporting, self-stigmatization, and affective reaction as well as protective factors is investigated.
(2) The results of the study may be used as empirical foundation for further discussions regarding communication in media about negative events.
(3) Based on the results, specific interventions related to media reporting may be developed for both patients (regarding the reaction to bad news in media and the management of potentially stigmatizing news) and for the general population (e.g. educational programs).