Editorial: The centrifugal tendencies of the stigma attached to mental illness || FREE PAPER ||

Norman Sartorius

University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

The centrifugal tendencies of the stigma attached to mental illness

Mental illness stigmatises those who have it. The stigma then has a variety of consequences, nowadays all negative in most countries. In previous times and still today in some settings, symptoms of mental illness, for example hallucinations, were perceived as a privilege, a sign of being in touch with deities. This is, however, today rare. In most countries of the world the stigma of mental illness represents a terrible burden that the person with a mental illness has to carry, in addition to all other difficulties that a severe illness might create.