TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of celebrity disclosure on mental health-related stigma
AU - Gronholm, Petra
AU - Thornicroft, Graham
N1 - Funding Information:
PCG is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (UKRI) in relation to the Indigo Partnership (MR/R023697/1) award. GT is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration South London (NIHR ARC South London) at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. GT is also supported by the UK Medical Research Council (UKRI) in relation to the Emilia (MR/S001255/1) and Indigo Partnership (MR/R023697/1) awards.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2022/8/30
Y1 - 2022/8/30
N2 - Mental health stigma and discrimination are global problems, and their reduction is recognised as an important public health priority. Involving celebrities in stigma reduction is increasingly common. This Editorial considers the impact of celebrity disclosure on mental health-related stigma; that is, whether and how a famous person openly speaking about their experience of mental health conditions can reduce stigma. Potential explanations for how celebrity mental health disclosures can influence mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours are outlined, followed by an overview of evidence on how celebrity disclosure operates to reduce stigma. Considering the available evidence, we provide a number of conclusions and recommendations for how celebrities can effectively be involved in anti-stigma efforts, and what considerations this requires. It is fair to say that celebrity disclosures can support stigma-reduction efforts through increasing the public's awareness of mental health, modelling behaviour and generating openness on speaking about mental health problems, and on seeking help when needed. However, whether celebrity disclosure achieves changes in mental health stigma-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours depends on the extent to which there is a match between the attributes of the famous person, the content shared in their disclosure narrative and the intended audience of the message. Further research is needed on all these questions to better understand how to successfully utilise the potentially huge power of celebrity disclosure in large-scale anti-stigma efforts.
AB - Mental health stigma and discrimination are global problems, and their reduction is recognised as an important public health priority. Involving celebrities in stigma reduction is increasingly common. This Editorial considers the impact of celebrity disclosure on mental health-related stigma; that is, whether and how a famous person openly speaking about their experience of mental health conditions can reduce stigma. Potential explanations for how celebrity mental health disclosures can influence mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours are outlined, followed by an overview of evidence on how celebrity disclosure operates to reduce stigma. Considering the available evidence, we provide a number of conclusions and recommendations for how celebrities can effectively be involved in anti-stigma efforts, and what considerations this requires. It is fair to say that celebrity disclosures can support stigma-reduction efforts through increasing the public's awareness of mental health, modelling behaviour and generating openness on speaking about mental health problems, and on seeking help when needed. However, whether celebrity disclosure achieves changes in mental health stigma-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours depends on the extent to which there is a match between the attributes of the famous person, the content shared in their disclosure narrative and the intended audience of the message. Further research is needed on all these questions to better understand how to successfully utilise the potentially huge power of celebrity disclosure in large-scale anti-stigma efforts.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136839306&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S2045796022000488
DO - 10.1017/S2045796022000488
M3 - Editorial
SN - 2045-7960
VL - 31
SP - 1
EP - 5
JO - Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
JF - Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
IS - e62
M1 - 488
ER -