Correlation between depression and perceived stigma among people living with epilepsy

•Comorbid depression is common with epilepsy due to its social stigma.•If the patients felt stigmatized by epilepsy, they had a higher chance of having depression.•Stigmatized people with epilepsy had lower self-esteem, greater social isolation, poorer psychological health, a lower quality of life, and worse epilepsy control.•Marital status (being single), age at onset of disease (under 25 years), and duration of disease (under 10 years) were statistically associated with depression.•Healthcare providers need to strengthen awareness in society for stigma reduction and early recognition of comorbid depression. Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures that happen in men and women of all ages. Comorbid depression is common with epilepsy due to its social stigma. This study aimed to describe the correlation between depression and perceived stigma among people living with epilepsy. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted with 96 people with epilepsy using the convenience sampling method. Fisher’s exact test was used to analyze the association between sociodemographic data, levels of depression, and perceived stigma. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between depression and perceived stigma. Twenty-three percent of respondents were found to be depressed, in that 16.7% were mildly depressed, 4.2% were moderately depressed, and 2.1% were severely depressed. Perceived stigma was found in 85.5%, of which 74% were moderately stigmatized and 11.5% were highly stigmatized. This study revealed a significant positive relationship between depression and perceived stigma (r = 0.21) at the p = 0.04 level. It highlights the correlation between perceived stigma and depression; if the patients felt stigmatized by epilepsy, they had a higher chance of having depression. Healthcare providers need to strengthen awareness in society for stigma reduction and early recognition of comorbid depression.