Stopping the Stigma. How Empathy and Reflectiveness Can Help Reduce Mental Health Stigma

ABSTRACT Given the high number of individuals with mental illness, and the prevalence of stigmatizing portrayals of mental illness in the media, it is important to investigate how media messages can – in contrast – be harnessed to reduce mental health stigma. Extending previous research on the destigmatizing effects of empathy, we investigated the effects of three content factors (mental illness portrayed: autism vs. schizophrenia; background music: emotional vs. neutral; veracity: actual vs. enacted portrayals) on empathy, reflective thoughts, and attitudes toward persons with mental illness. Structural equation modeling revealed effects of these content factors on empathy, reflective thoughts, and indirectly (via empathy and reflective thoughts) on mental health attitudes. These results draw attention to the role of reflectiveness in mediating empathy-attitude effects, but also shed light on the effect of authentic testimonials’ self-disclosure. Limitations regarding the specific message format and mental illness depicted are discussed.