Stigmatizing patients at an inpatient unit of child and adolescent psychiatry

In a pilot study covering a sample of n = 25 children formerly treated as in-patients within a child psychiatric unit and n = 40 parents of former in-patients, approx. 30% of the parents indicated that their children had been exposed to stigmatizing behaviour reactions by their social environment in consequence of their stay at the unit. The children themselves felt stigmatized in approx. 50% of cases. Correlations between stigmatization and demographic variables, characteristics of treatment or subjects' attitudes towards child and adolescent psychiatry were rarely found to be significant. Because of their fear of stigmatization, there are tendencies among parents as well as patients to conceal the children's in-patient treatment, these tendencies sometimes even concerning the inner family circle. The paper stresses the need for child and adolescent psychiatry to face the problem of patient stigmatization and suggests possible steps to be taken in order to relieve or even prevent stigmatization.