printSocial Meanings of Stigmatizing Persons with Mental Disorders
Svetlichnaya T.G.
Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor of the Department of Public Health, Public Health and Social Work of the Northern State Medical University, Arkhangelsk, Russia. statiana64@yandex.ru
Smirnova E.A.
Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology and Social Technologies of Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia. smirnova56@yandex.ru
Kharkova O.A.
Cand. Sci. (Psych.), PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Research Methodology at the Northern State Medical University, Arkhangelsk, Russia. harkova@yandex.ru
Svetlichnaya T.G., Smirnova E.A., Kharkova O.A. Social Meanings of Stigmatizing Persons with Mental Disorders. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 2. P. 131-136
The article presents the results of an empirical study conducted in March- May 2023 in Cherepovets, Vologda region. The survey of citizens on the issue of attitudes towards people with mental disorders and/or behavioral disorders is analyzed. The presence of contrasting social dispositions in the public consciousness has been established: a high prevalence of a weak degree of stigmatization with the parallel existence of radical stigmatizing ideas. Thus, the majority (84.0%) of citizens believe that a socially healthy society should show a compassionate and merciful attitude towards people suffering from mental disorders/behavioral disorders. At the same time, one in six (18.0%) considers it necessary to apply the full range of institutional discrimination measures to them, and 71.8% are ready to isolate such people even prior to their offense, while in the city of Cherepovets only 5.2% of all those under dispensary supervision are prone to commit socially dangerous actions.
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