Comparing discrimination among people with schizophrenia, affective and anxiety disorders. A multilevel study in five European countries

BACKGROUND: Most research on mental illness stigma has involved people with psychosis; less information is available for people with affective and anxiety disorders. We aimed to compare experienced and anticipated discrimination among people with schizophrenia, and affective and anxiety disorders.METHODS: People with schizophrenia (n=773), affective (n=1010) and anxiety disorders (n=372) were recruited during psychiatric admission across 5 EU countries. The Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC-12) was used. Multivariate mixed effect logistic regression models with a random effect for hospital and country were performed to explore patient characteristics associated with experienced and anticipated discrimination.RESULTS: With anxiety disorders, there were more reports of experiences of discrimination in social life (35%), intimate relationships (23.5%), and physical healthcare (19%); in schizophrenia, in relations with neighbours (23.6%) and mental health staff (21.7%); and in affective disorders, in parental role (22.8%). In multivariate analyses, anxiety was associated with increased likelihood of experiencing discrimination in police interactions (OR=1.675; p=0.038) and physical healthcare (OR=1.816; p=0.003), and reduced likelihood when starting a family (OR=0.474; p=0.01) as compared with schizophrenia. Affective (OR=1.367; p=0.004) and anxiety disorders (OR=1.354; p=0.034) were associated with increased likelihood of concealing a diagnosis compared with schizophrenia.LIMITATIONS: As patients with affective and anxiety disorders were recruited from hospital inpatient units, their experiences may not be representative of all people with these disorders.CONCLUSIONS: In a sample of people receiving inpatient treatment, experienced and anticipated discrimination are perceived, at least in some life domains, as more of a burden for people with affective and anxiety disorders than those with schizophrenia.